That One Side Of You
by xxIAmTheSkyxx
Summary: He is out for blood. Lost lives and tortured souls mean nothing; just an insignificant price to pay for the sweet taste of vengeance. On mankind. On the world. On everything that made him suffer. And on all that left him to rot in his hell. Warning: There will be many character deaths.
1. Prologue: The Start

_Yes. My new story is finally up. Rejoice. :D_

_Oh my God! I actually made it on time! I managed to keep my promise! ^^ Yes, I'm so happy!_

_Unfortunately, though, this is all you're gonna get until sometime next week because I'm going on a vacation trip with family and friends for the next four days and there will be no computer or Wi-Fi. *sadface* You'll have to wait until then. _

_In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this, and please look forward to the first chapter! :)_

**Prologue: The Start**

Bright light.

That was Tsubasa's first impression of his surroundings when he awoke. The light disoriented him for a moment. When he got his bearings, he realized that it was sunlight coming through his window. He was in his small house, lying in his bed.

And the rays of light were _hot_. Really hot. It was burning his face. He sat up quickly.

"Ouch," he muttered as he rubbed his hot cheek. His hands were cold, oddly, but at the moment he wasn't complaining. The low temperature raised his alertness a bit though he still felt somewhat groggy. It soothed the sting of the lingering heat and warmed up his fingers at the same time.

"Tsubasa!" a cheery voice called from the curtained doorway to his room. "You're awake!"

Tsubasa turned his head to see the owner of the voice, and managed a smile when he saw who it was. "Hello, Mokona," he greeted it as he rubbed his eyes. "Good morning."

The tiny white rabbit-like creature bounced from the doorway onto his lap as it said, "No, not morning! It's the middle of the afternoon! You were asleep a long time."

Tsubasa frowned. "Really?"

Mokona nodded vigorously, its long ears flapping up and down from the movement. "Yep yep! You were out for five days! You used a lot of your magic that time; that's why!"

At that answer, Tsubasa couldn't help but feel shocked. "Five days?" he repeated in disbelief. "How can that –"

He was interrupted by a loud _bang_ that indicated a door being slammed open and Syaoran burst through the curtains a few seconds after in full working gear. He even had his goggles on, like he'd run straight from an archeological dig. He quickly hurried to Tsubasa's bedside, a mix of anxiety and relief in his expression.

"Tsubasa!" Syaoran exclaimed, pure relief in his tone. "You're finally awake! The princesses and I have been so worried! How're you feeling?"

Tsubasa was too rattled by the sudden act of his clone bursting into his room without warning to answer his question properly, and instead stammered, "H-hey, how did you know I was –"

"I was just coming back home to take some extra textbooks to the site, and then I heard your and Mokona's voice. I just had to make sure I wasn't hearing things and hallucinating from this heat," Syaoran sighed in relief. "I'm glad I wasn't. So, how're you feeling?"

"Um, better," Tsubasa managed to say. "I'm still a little sleepy, though. I guess I overdid it."

"Really; you shouldn't have even done this in the first place," his double fretted, veering off the subject. "I mean, both Sakura and I owe you for helping us, but you didn't have to –"

"Hey, don't be like that, Syaoran!" Mokona insisted. "He knew he didn't have to; he just did it anyway! And you _did_ ask him to, if I remember right – along with Sakura too!"

"I know that, but –"

Tsubasa interrupted them both.

"Listen here, Syaoran," he began, raising his arms in a placating gesture. "I know you feel bad, but what's done is done. You can't go back and undo them. So start looking forward instead of back. Okay?"

Syaoran pursed his lips for a minute before answering.

"Yeah," he said finally. "Okay."

Tsubasa smiled and swung his legs over the side of his bed. "Well then, now that that's taken care of, let's go see the princesses. I could really use a walk right about now."

Syaoran looked worried again. "You sure about that?" he asked uncertainly.

"I'm not going to get my energy back if I just stay in bed, you know."

Syaoran finally managed a weak chuckle liked he'd finally given up on arguing against Tsubasa. "Well, I guess that's true. Okay then, you win. Let's go."

"Mokona is coming too!" Mokona piped up.

* * *

He tapped his finger on the smooth pane of glass that showed the image of the two boys. He then traced it along the mirror pane, following the two figures as they moved across the small room to the door.

"How interesting…" he murmured as the two youths disappeared from view for the moment. "This mirror really is useful. I'm glad I found this place."

He removed his finger from the huge mirror, which was now flecked with faint trails of red. He stared at his hand and sighed in irritation as he turned his back to the giant looking glass.

"Well, damn," he muttered. "I forgot about the blood. Looks like I'll have to wipe it off later."

He made his way to the velvet chair facing the mirror and dropped into it with a huff. He scowled at the now-bloodstained pane of glass for some timeless minutes as he slouched in his seat. But ever so slowly, his frown morphed into a satisfied smile.

"Oh, well," he said to himself as he slowly raised his blood-caked fingers to his lips and licked them one by one, savoring the taste with each trace of the tongue. "I guess it doesn't really matter. The blood isn't making the mirror malfunction. And besides…" His tongue lingered an extra second on his thumb and then he exhaled in contentment. "It's…so delicious. Who am I to complain?"

A low snicker escaped his lips as he lowered his hand from his mouth to the hilt of a behemoth of a sword, bloody and already in the grip of his free hand, clasping his hand around it. "It's been a while since I've had these feelings in me. It's finally time to let it loose upon the worlds…as payment for making me endure that hell. I won't let myself be the only one who has had to suffer through it. Soon they'll feel the agony. Soon…"

He moved his left hand away so that his right hand held the massive weapon. He then lifted up the blade and pointed it at the huge mirror as if it weighed no more than a pencil. His grin stretched wider.

"Now…" He gleefully observed the mirror again, which showed the two youths now engaged in a conversation with two others. His gaze lingered on the one speaking to the other two people, both of whom were girls, hungrily. He licked his lips.

"…Let the fun begin."

* * *

_And here's the prologue! Like I said, super short! And like I said, no update until next week! Hope you liked this and that it was a good kickoff/setup for this fic. The first couple chapters will be really short but then it'll get slightly longer around chapter five. How do I know that? Because (for those of you who never saw my profile before reading this) this story is already completely drafted, that's how! I assure you it won't be super-short snippets forever! ^^_

_Thanks all, and hopefully see you next week! Merry Christmas and God bless :)_


	2. Uneasiness

_Yay first chapter is finally out whoo! :D Should've been up earlier, but hey. I was on vacation. Cut me some slack. ^^; Plusyoutubewasdistractingme – *shot*_

…_Anyway. Hope you enjoy this!_

**Ch. 1: Uneasiness**

"Oh, Tsubasa, thank goodness! You're awake! We were so worried!"

"Don't worry anymore; I'm all right."

"Are you sure? Not sick, or dizzy, or anything of that sort?"

"I'm fine, really. I _am_ hungry, though."

Syaoran had to smile at the sight of the two princesses fussing over Tsubasa's well-being. He was also glad for the fact that his original self was okay after bringing him and Sakura back. It couldn't have been very easy for him, having to recreate the both of them solely with his own power (Fai had offered to lend a hand, but according to him Tsubasa had insisted on doing it alone). He hadn't been too aware of it at the time, but Syaoran heard later that Tsubasa had apparently passed out from physical and mental fatigue after he'd granted them their bodies, which Syaoran completely understood. One person's magical ability could only go so far. And now, standing in the shade of the cool outdoor walkways of the palace, it was clear what impact it had had on all of them.

Sakura looked to Syaoran in the midst of his reminiscing and touched him on the shoulder, causing him to start. "Syaoran?"

"Oh – sorry, did you need something?" he asked as he focused on her.

"No, it's just that you were spacing out, and I just wondered what was wrong."

Syaoran scratched his head in embarrassment. "No, it's – it's nothing. Nothing is wrong. I was just thinking about a couple things."

Sakura laughed lightly, and Syaoran loved the sound of it. It reminded him of tinkling bells. "Since when was your mind _not_ on something, Syao? Silly me; I should have expected as much."

Syaoran's cheeks felt hot. He was probably blushing – pretty furiously, too. "Y-yeah."

"Well, anyway, we were just talking about how you guys haven't eaten yet today," the princess continued, her teasing tone taking on a chiding cast. "Tsubasa hasn't eaten for five days; he's really hungry right now, you know? Couldn't you have grabbed an apple for him on the way here or something?"

Syaoran grew flustered. So _that_ was what had been nagging at him the whole way from their house to the palace. How could he have forgotten to give Tsubasa something to eat on the way? He had to be famished after sleeping for five days and nights straight! Even in the face of utter relief, that was no excuse. He felt even more embarrassed than ever.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again, shame-faced. "I forgot."

"It's all right, Syaoran; she's only teasing," the true princess assured him as she walked up to the two of them, hand in hand with Tsubasa. Syaoran often got confused looks whenever he tried to use her real name, which was also Tsubasa, so he settled with referring to her as _princess_. "We can just go and eat right now. We haven't had lunch yet anyway, so it's fine. You can eat with us."

Syaoran still felt guilty despite that assurance. "Right…but we really shouldn't; I mean, we're –"

Sakura puffed out her cheeks in mock annoyance. "Oh, Syao, how many times do we have to break it to you that it doesn't matter?" she whined. "You two are our closest friends! The people here at the palace all welcome you here! I don't think even Touya minds you being in the palace with us anymore!"

When Sakura mentioned the princess's older brother in that way, Syaoran knew he couldn't argue anymore without actually upsetting her. He would still feel uncomfortable eating food meant for royalty when he was anything but, but he couldn't deny Sakura the time she wanted to spend with him at the feast.

Tsubasa capped it by clapping him on the shoulder and remarking playfully, "You really need to loosen up, Syao. Start feeling more comfortable around her. She's your special person, remember? Relax. If you keep this up, the one having a panic attack will be you."

Syaoran sighed and cracked a grin. He must look like a complete idiot right now. It was too hard to stay guilty with Tsubasa there, especially since he was most likely worried about him, too – telling Syaoran to cheer up so he wouldn't be wallowing in remorse.

"Yeah, okay," he surrendered, raising a hand to indicate that he was doing so. "Fine. We'll eat with you."

Sakura proceeded to wrap her arms around his right one, smiling at him warmly. "You just can't win, can you, Syao?" she teased him lightly.

Syaoran tousled his own hair briefly before replying at last, "No, I guess not."

"Come on," she urged him, tugging on his arm in the direction of the entrance to the palace. "Let's go and eat."

Syaoran let her lead him down the corridor, and he could hear Tsubasa and the real princess follow behind. As he was pulled along, he stared out at the huge open landscape of Clow. Since they were up on a higher floor, Syaoran could see the multitude of low brick houses scattered below him, their image being slightly warped thanks to the heat reflecting off the sand dunes surrounding their small community. Another hot day, as per usual of this desert kingdom.

_It all ends tonight._

Syaoran stopped in his tracks abruptly, causing Sakura to falter in her steps for a moment with a tiny squeal of surprise, but he didn't heed it. He'd suddenly just felt a chill run down his back, and the most uncomfortable feeling that someone was watching them this very moment. He knew that the chill hadn't come from the cool corridors – it was still too warm for it to have instilled that reaction in him.

What had that feeling been?

"Syaoran?" He finally heard Sakura calling out to him and was pulled out of his thoughts once again. When he looked at her, she had a concerned look on her face. "Syao, did something happen? Why did you suddenly stop like that?"

Only then did he realize that he was in an awkward position. When he looked behind him, he saw that both Tsubasa and the princess had paused behind him and were staring at him in confusion. Tsubasa himself was looking at him strangely in particular – like he was trying to pull the answers out of Syaoran's mind while already having a vague idea of what he'd find.

It was a couple moments before he pulled himself together enough to speak. "Oh, um – no, nothing happened," he stammered hurriedly in an attempt to dismiss their reactions. "I was just thinking about something and –"

"Oh, honestly, Syao; can't you let your mind rest for even a minute?" Sakura sighed. "Overworking your mind isn't good for you; Yukito told me himself. Let your thoughts go for some moments of the day since you're going to miss things if you don't."

"S-sorry." Honestly, how many times had he apologized in just these couple minutes?

Sakura tugged on his arm again to urge him forward. "Let's go."

"Um, Sakura, wait just a moment." Much to Syaoran's surprise, Tsubasa walked into their exchange, which was very unlike him. "I need to speak with Syaoran about something. Can you and the princess go ahead first? We'll be right with you."

Both girls had surprise etched on their faces, and Syaoran could only assume that he had the same appearance as well at Tsubasa's abrupt request. Before he could get his wits about him, both Sakura and the princess had gone and Tsubasa had taken him by the shoulders and was now staring him squarely in the eyes, amber to amber. He couldn't tear his gaze away, as much as he wanted to. He grew uneasy – did Tsubasa somehow figure out what he'd been thinking about?

"Syaoran," Tsubasa addressed him firmly, "Is there something that you'd like to share with me?"

The hall suddenly seemed to get colder. Goosebumps started forming on Syaoran's arms and his entire body went tense. "Um…well…"

They stayed that way for about a minute or two, and Syaoran was feeling more and more uncomfortable with each passing second and his heartbeat was moments from kicking up to eleven. Tsubasa's eyes were boring into him. At long last, after what seemed like an eternity, Tsubasa let out a huge sigh of resignation at his reluctance and let his hands slip off his shoulders.

"Okay, I get it. You don't want to talk about it here," he guessed with a weary expression. "Fine; if that's what you want then I won't push you. But explain everything to me when we get back home this evening, okay? All of it."

At those words Syaoran's locked muscles slowly loosened, one ligament at a time. "Y-yeah. I will."

Tsubasa's expression suddenly became unreadable as he stepped around him and clasped his left shoulder briefly before heading inside as well. After a couple moments, Syaoran made his way to the entrance, trailing after him. The apprehension he was feeling wouldn't fade. He still felt the sensation of being watched by someone invisible. Only it didn't feel like these invisible eyes were on him.

No. They were on Tsubasa.

_It all ends tonight._

* * *

_Huh. The end scenario played out much more differently than I'd drafted. Interesting. Oh, well; at least it turned out all right._

_Right, anyway…_

_Ooh. Only the first chapter and something is already happening! :D This was fun typing up! Hope you enjoyed this, and look forward to the next chapter next week!_


	3. Traceless

_It's the second chapter! All the introductions are over with this chapter, and then we will go into the actual story with full gusto following the next update! :D …Well, not _full_ gusto. But you know what I mean, right? XD This chapter came out alarmingly fast; I have no idea why…_

_Never mind; ignore my rambling. Enjoy this chapter!_

**Ch. 2: Traceless**

Explaining the problem was easy. Coming to terms with it was not.

Riku was recounting what had happened to his two friends on the islands to elderly wizard and Mickey's former teacher, Master Yen Sid, who was as usual seated behind his large wooden table. His fingers, gnarled with age, were laced together on top of the table as he listened intently to Riku's tale without interruption. Sora's longtime friends and allies, Donald Duck and Goofy, were also present at this retelling. They were standing off to the side with expressions ranging from worrying to unsettled, fidgeting with their clothes in their nervousness.

Once Riku had finished, an uncomfortable silence hung in the air of the loft of the castle where they were currently meeting. Yen Sid heaved a deep sigh and stroked his long beard slowly as he took in what his former student had told him.

"So you say that both Sora and Kairi are missing as of now, and you haven't found the slightest trace of any of them," he murmured in his slow voice. "This concerns me greatly. In this time of peace, I never expected any situation of this sort to occur."

"How long has it been since you've noticed this again?" Goofy asked, his big eyes filled with concern. It was typical for Mickey's Captain of the Royal Guard to be acting this way – he was softer than one would expect out of his position.

"It's been three days now," Riku answered him fretfully. He was just as concerned at the disappearance of his two best friends as Goofy was; perhaps even more so. "There's just no sign of them. Sora's parents and the mayor are worried sick over them vanishing."

"You've tried everything?" Donald insisted desperately in his garbled voice, which only became more incomprehensible with agitation (which this wizard duck was prone to, unfortunately). "Did you try Seeking them out?"

"I did just about everything I could think of," Riku confirmed. "Even Seeking. And I still don't know where they are. But –"

He was interrupted when both dog and duck fell over each other in their anxiety and rush to get to him and begged, "What?! But what?!"

Riku was shocked by the duo's desperation, but he tried to get his act together before saying, "When I tried Seeking, there was something weird that I noticed."

Master Yen Sid regarded him with piercing eyes. "And what was it that you noticed, Riku?"

Here Riku hesitated. He wasn't sure this information was one he should be sharing. Ever since he'd learned the power of Seeking – sensing and locating people by the aura of their hearts – he'd learned that no matter how far a certain person was from his proximity, he'd be able to feel their existence, even as tiny blots of life, as long as he or she was alive. He and his friends had learned this skill from Yen Sid himself, because they no longer wanted to be subject to the agony of never knowing whether they were safe or where they were at all times as they had been in the past.

But in his lessons, Riku had also learned this: a person's heart would blink out of existence like a dying candle once he or she expired (or in other words, died). And if they had received the proper training like himself and his friends, they could conceal the essence of their hearts from being detected from others. In other words, it wasn't always a reliable source to fall back on to confirm whether his friends were okay or not, especially in this case, since his friends had been trained right alongside him.

That last bit was what concerned Riku the most.

However, nothing good would come out of hiding this from his former mentor or his friends. So he told them.

"I've tried Seeking them multiple times," he began, increasingly aware of the three sets of eyes on him. "And every time it was the same. Sora's presence is…murky, is the best way I can put it. I can't get a lock on where he is; it's like someone – or something – doesn't want anything to find him but at least wants me to know that he's still alive somewhere. And Kairi…she's just gone. I can't sense her at all."

Silence settled over the circular room, heavy as sandbags, at this statement. Riku could almost feel the air growing heavier, pressing down on his shoulders. Even the green and yellow aurorae visible from the windows seemed to grow dimmer to match the low spirits within the tower.

"Can't feel Kairi?" Goofy echoed in his shock. "Gawrsh, but that could mean that –"

"Waaak!" Donald shook his head and his feathers ruffled furiously at his old friend's implications. It was even harder for Riku now to understand him. "We can't think like that, Goofy! Don't forget that we run on happy faces!"

"Riku," Yen Sid addressed him at last, speaking over the bickering of the knight and magician. "This situation is indeed dire. I won't deny that. However, dwelling on what has gone amiss without any course of action can cause one to become blind to what could be seen as fortunate. There can be multiple reasons why what you have felt us so; not all are necessarily bad."

"How is that possible? I can't see anything fortunate in this situation at all!"

"Calm yourself," the elderly wizard ordered sternly. "You know that one's heart's presence can be concealed by magic. Both Sora and Kairi have learned how to do this alongside you. Barring myself, you three, and King Mickey, none has this skill. It is quite possible that they are merely hiding from you for personal reasons. They would not leave the islands so abruptly without explanation."

Riku clenched his fists. It was true that Sora and Kairi had been given these lessons along with himself. There _could_ have been a good reason for them disappearing on him so suddenly, and for so long. But the evidence he'd gathered just didn't stack up with these theories. Yen Sid was probably telling him this so that he wouldn't panic. Even if that was the case, it wasn't working very well.

"But that's exactly what worries me," Riku pointed out, concerned. "Neither of them have ever gone anywhere without telling me first before this. I _know _that something weird is happening, Master. And there's one other thing – if what you're telling me is true, then I shouldn't be able to sense Sora's heart either, but that's not the case. Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but I don't think this situation should be taken so lightly. I have this bad feeling that they're in some kind of trouble. That's why I came to you today – so that I could ask for help in at least leading me in the right direction."

The sorcerer closed his eyes briefly, as if contemplating. "Very well. I shall assist to the extent to which I can, but I'm afraid I cannot go beyond that. Thenceforth you must go alone."

Riku nodded determinedly. "I understand. No matter what, I'll find Sora and Kairi and bring them back."

* * *

_Wow, this chapter came out pretty fast…huh. Weird. But who cares; at least it's up now, right? Riiiight? :D_

_Anyhow, like I mentioned earlier, this is the last of the introduction chapters! We are diving into the plot come chapter three! Look forward to it! ^^_


	4. Underway

_Yay, time-for-plot time! It's epic; it's awesome! It's…chapter three! Whoo!_

_XD Sorry. But seriously, the plot is moving forward now! I'm so super excited getting into this plot; you have no idea! _

…_Just kidding. You have to wait one more chapter. XD Or two._

_Either way, I know it's ridiculously short (even by this story's standards) but I hope you enjoy this read!_

**Ch. 3: Underway**

"Syaoran~!" Mokona chimed eagerly. "C'mon, let's hurry! Food shopping, food shopping!"

Mokona's tiny form was practically invisible to Syaoran's eyes in the midst of the bustling street and the food market stands lining its sides. By the time he actually located the tiny rabbit, he was ready to drop. Keeping it in sight had been a chore to Syaoran in itself, since Mokona kept bouncing around like a hyperactive marshmallow. The blistering heat of the afternoon didn't quite help either. Once Syaoran actually caught up with and managed to convince Mokona to wait in front of a fruit stand, he was so winded he was gasping for air the whole time he spoke.

"Please slow down a little," he panted pleadingly, bracing his hands on his knees for support. "I can't keep up if you keep moving like that!"

"But we need to hurry!" Mokona insisted. "The feast is supposed to start soon, remember? We need to get the bread fast! If we don't, then everyone will eat without us, and we don't get any food, and Mokona will be sad, like this!" Its long ears then drooped and its squinty eyes became exaggeratingly downcast to emphasize its point.

"But we still have plenty of time for us to get back after buying the bread," Syaoran pointed out, but Mokona wasn't listening as it suddenly took on an absolutely horrified expression.

"Aaaaah! If Mokona doesn't eat, then Mokona will be hungry!" it squeaked in fright. "And if Mokona is hungry…" It squealed in terror at the very thought and started bouncing all over the place in anxiety once more, piping in panic, "Aaaaaah! No, no, no, no! Mokona doesn't want to be hungry! Being hungry is bad! Nightmare, nightmare!"

Syaoran finally managed to catch his breath and – by a stroke of luck – Mokona itself as it unwittingly leapt in the direction of his face. Its tiny body was still flailing in his grip, crying, "Mokona needs food; Mokona needs food!"

"Come on, Mokona; calm down," Syaoran said in a reassuring tone. "Don't worry; you'll get your food. I'll buy some apples just for you; how does that sound? Then we'll make it back in time for lunch to start. No one is going to be hungry. We'll all have lots to eat."

At those words Mokona instantly cheered up; its eyes (or what could be seen of them, anyway) brightened up considerably. "Well, if Syaoran says it, then Mokona will believe you!" it said happily.

Syaoran had to chuckle at its antics. It was really hard to not endear to them. For that moment, the mood was completely light.

Then they heard the unmistakable voice of the princess cry out from behind them, "Syaoran!"

Both of them turned around in surprise in the direction of her voice since neither of them had expected to see her out here. Even from a distance Syaoran could glimpse the anguished look in her jade-green eyes, and his stomach dropped to the soles of his feet. Something was very wrong.

"Sakura!" he cried as he ran to meet her, nearly dropping Mokona in his haste. "What is it? Did something happen back at the palace?"

The young princess fought to catch her breath before answering. It seemed like she had full-on sprinted here from the palace without stopping to rest, and she wasn't known for being a person with high stamina. Syaoran had to take her by the shoulders to keep her from collapsing in exhaustion. He led her into the shade of a nearby building, away from the bustling bazaar.

Mokona hopped lightly onto Sakura's shoulders. "Are you okay?" it asked in concern.

Sakura wiped her tears away and managed a breathless, "Don't – don't worry about me."

"What happened, Sakura?" Syaoran demanded once she could breathe properly. "Something happened, didn't it?"

Sakura seemed to find it hard to say the words. Her eyes were welling up in tears again. "Oh, Syaoran – Tsubasa – Tsubasa is –"

Syaoran's blood turned to ice. No, it couldn't be true; it just couldn't be. Not after all he'd gone through already. "What? What happened to Tsubasa?" he asked, feeling panicky. "What happened to him?"

"I – I don't know," she whimpered, pulling herself into his embrace and burying her face in his shirt. "Someone…someone came into the palace and then…I don't know what he did to him, but Tsubasa, he – he isn't waking up; it's like he's trapped in a nightmare! He looked like – he looked like he was in unbearable pain! It's horrible; I – I can't stand it!" Her final words came out in a muffled wail, and Syaoran could feel her sobbing and trembling in his arms.

Syaoran himself was in a state of shock at her news, but he had to be strong for her. "Sakura, you have to hold it together," he instructed her, his own voice shaking despite himself. "Tell me – is that person still at the palace?"

The princess finally pulled away and shook her head. "I'm – I'm not sure. He was still there when I left, but –"

"You mean you left both Tsubasa and the princess _alone_ with him?" That remark came out harsher than he'd meant it to, but Syaoran thought that Sakura would have at least had the sense to leave them with bodyguards or something if they were being assaulted by an assailant.

"Of course not!" Sakura said quickly, sounding contrite. "Fai and Kurogane are with them! I would never leave those two unprotected! Not after – not after what Tsubasa –"

"Okay, I understand," Syaoran said reassuringly. "Just calm down. Don't worry about a thing. Tsubasa will be all right, I promise. Mokona, you go on ahead to Kurogane and Fai," he added to the tiny rabbit creature. "We'll catch up with you. Be careful on your way there."

"Right! You be careful too, Syaoran! And take care of Sakura!" With that Mokona bounced of Sakura's shoulder and out of the shadows, headed in the direction of the palace.

Once Mokona was gone, he turned to Sakura, whose delicate features were inscribed with worry. He wiped away another one of her stray tears as he said gently, "Don't worry. Everything will definitely be okay. Let's go back to the palace." His amber eyes darkened, and the words he thought he'd never have to speak escaped his lips. "I want to see for myself who would dare do something like this to our flesh and blood."

* * *

_And the third chapter is done! I'm really plowing through these, aren't I? Don't worry though; things will slow down come chapter 5. ^^ That's when the chapters will get slightly longer (Finally!)._

_Well, until next update (which will probably happen really soon)! See ya!_


	5. Cold-Blooded

_And chapter four is out! A little slower than I predicted, but who's to complain? (Oh right, you guys. Never mind.)_

…_Seriously, why am I even writing this? I'm only wasting your time! Enjoy the chapter!_

**Ch. 4: Cold-Blooded**

Riku had hoped that Master Yen Sid had made some kind of mistake when he showed him what he did. That maybe it was a test for him to see how unnerved he would get in this situation. Or maybe he was just hallucinating in his stress.

Of course he wasn't that lucky.

This wasn't a test. Yen Sid hadn't made a mistake. And he definitely wasn't hallucinating. The moment Riku had been shown the image of Kairi's lifeless body in the outskirts of Twilight Town, he had simultaneously denied and accepted what his eyes beheld. That vision was one that couldn't be easily believed. Even now, looking upon her body up close and in person, he still couldn't believe what had happened. But he knew it to be true.

Kairi looked like she'd been left here for a while. Her body had been nestled – well, more like tossed – into the thick underbrush on the far side of the woods close to the abandoned mansion so that she was hidden completely from view and detection, since no sane person would dare go near that mansion – not after what had happened there. Her body itself was in a contorted position. That and her clothes were completely caked with blood from head to toe. There was a gaping hole in her chest, like she'd been brutally impaled by something wide and thick like a wooden plank. Her violet-blue eyes were dead and widened in shock. It was a wonder to Riku that the forest creatures hadn't eaten her eyes out yet since the rest of her had been decomposing, eaten away, and gouged out in some form. He could even see the white of her bones in some places, despite the pallor of her skin matching them and covered by all the blackened blood, and of course, there was the smell. Riku could barely breathe standing next to her. And he had the nagging feeling that she hadn't been killed in this forest.

The longer Riku looked upon her rotting corpse, the sicker to his stomach he felt. There was no way around this. Kairi was dead, and had probably been this way since the first of the three days she'd been missing. But the way she'd apparently died – being stabbed through the chest by something large enough to nearly bisect her upper torso and the rest of her body – downright nauseated him. Who had killed her in such a fashion? Even worse, who would kill in such a gruesome way _at all_? No one should be forced to meet their makers in this way. Especially Kairi.

Not only that, but after seeing her mangled body, he didn't want to even begin to imagine what state Sora could be in. If Kairi was anything to judge by, he could be enduring far worse tortures this very moment. Sora wasn't dead, though – Riku could still sense the aura of his heart, though it grew murkier and dimmer than ever, threatening to blink out. That was something, but he needed to act fast. Only problem was that he _still_ didn't know where Sora was – Yen Sid had been unable to locate him even through his powerful magic.

Riku's heart had sunk like never before.

"_Why?" Riku demanded, refusing to accept the old sorcerer's words. "Why can't you show me where Sora is?!"_

_Yen Sid sighed. "It seems some powerful and unfamiliar magic is clouding my vision. It is unfamiliar and therefore difficult for me to counter, let alone overcome._

_That pulled Riku up short. "Unfamiliar?" he repeated, confused. "How can it be unfamiliar?" Yen Sid was the most powerful wizard to have ever lived, only Merlin coming even slightly close to his prowess. His knowledge of magic was near limitless. There was something that escaped even this elderly magician? It didn't seem conceivable._

"_This sort of magic is neither of light nor dark," Yen Sid mused, folding his hands in his lap. He seemed to age another five years. "Pure energy manipulation is my best hypothesis, though this sort of power is exceedingly unfamiliar and not of this world, or any that I know of. But until I can ascertain a method to bypass this magic, you must go to where Kairi's body lies – perhaps you may find a clue there to Sora's whereabouts."_

"_But how am I supposed to do that?" Riku asked, incredulous. "I mean, there isn't any guarantee that –"_

"_Then do as Sora would do."_

"_What?"_

"_Think, Riku. In what field does Sora excel? All you have to do is emulate that."_

What good did that advice do him now? Riku did know what skill Yen Sid had meant – he himself had been subject to it countless times over the years. But there was no way that he expected to be able to do the same thing. That was Sora's special ability – and his alone. Many people could wield Keyblades. Many could travel from world to world. Many could simply just manage to use magic in itself or be a skilled fighter in their own right.

However, there was something only Sora could do, and that was by living solely by following his heart. As much as Riku wanted to, he couldn't emulate this – he'd even expressed this jealousy to Sora himself after taking down Xemnas and being stranded in the Realm of Darkness together. Of course Sora had been surprised at that, as if he couldn't picture Riku, who was supposed to be the mature older brother of the group who was supposed to be better at everything, confess that he was jealous of someone like him. If only Sora had known just what a marvel he'd been, and still was, to everyone around him.

But then again, in true Sora fashion, he'd write himself off as still the inferior one, despite the fact that Riku just hadn't felt the part of the dominant one between the two – even though he'd passed his Mark of Mastery before Sora had. If Xehanort hadn't come and ruined everything when he did by taking advantage of the fact that they were in worlds of sleep, they would have passed at the same time, especially given Sora's track record (or at least what he knew of anyway) before the exam. And Sora had even cheered for Riku when he passed even though he himself hadn't, which only made him feel worse.

Riku wanted to yell at the sky in frustration. There were just so many things he wanted to scream his lungs out about. _Why are you doing this?! What have you done with Sora?! Who are you?! Just what do you want?!_

What could he do? He couldn't just stand there staring at Kairi's corpse and contemplating screaming at the sky for all his problems. But he was just one person – and whatever was going on, he wasn't sure he could handle it by himself. This wasn't just some petty little crime – Riku was sure his friends had been targeted for a specific reason. Kairi was a Princess of Heart. Sora was also a Keyblade Master. It couldn't have been coincidence. Whoever had done this definitely wanted _something_. He couldn't imagine what it was though.

It was a couple more minutes until it finally hit him. There _was_ a way that he could possibly find Sora. He had to get help from the one person who had rescued his best friend several times over.

Lea.

* * *

_Yeah…almost nothing happened in this chapter; just Riku moaning about his problems (and a bit of mine, actually XD) as usual. Well, he did find out Kairi was dead so…plot twist? _

…_Nah. I'm sure you saw that coming. Given how I've generally treated her in my fics, anyway._

_Well, next up is the chapter where our characters _actually do something _in order for the plot to move forward! The insanity! Anyway, look forward to it! :)_


	6. Instigation

_Oh my God; is it the fifth chapter? Is it? Is it? Is it?_

_Why, yes! Yes it is! At long last, the action finally starts! I can't tell you how excited I was typing this out since we're finally getting to the meat of the story! I can't tell you how dragged out the fourth chapter felt; I was all, "Why am I write something like this?" the whole time. Well, that nightmare is over (for the time being)._

_And I'm sure you just want me to shut up and let you read this in peace. And so I shall._

…_Until the end. Enjoy._

**Ch. 5: Instigation**

Syaoran had no idea what he was expecting once he arrived at the palace, but it definitely hadn't been a sword to the neck.

He could see what was going on before he even reached the outside courtyard, where it seemed to be taking place. It was the last place he expected anything out of the ordinary to happen since it was basically just an outdoor garden, with rows upon rows of flowering plants lining the rocky paths that wove through it, and even a couple trees dotted here and there. But the minute he reached the entrance to the garden he was met with the tip of a sword grazing underneath his chin.

So much for that assumption.

He heard both of the princesses cry out "Syaoran!" in their panic, but Syaoran was instead focused on the weapon keeping him back and – by extension – the person wielding it.

That's not to say he wasn't completely shocked by this – it had happened so suddenly it took a couple seconds for him to actually process what _had_ happened. Once he got his bearings back, he froze in position in order to keep the tip of the blade from cutting his throat and left his eyes free to wander.

Syaoran ran his gaze along the sword as he struggled to stay immobile. The blade was long and wide from guard to tip, where it widened a bit more before tapering off to a point. He blanched when he noticed that the entire weapon – hilt and all – was soaked in fresh blood. He didn't want to know who it belonged to.

But that wasn't the worst part.

His eyes had finally reached the hilt of the sword at that point. What he saw turned his blood to ice and chilled him to the bone. It was a familiar shape, a cursed shape…a shape which he wished could be erased from his mind.

It was the shape of the bat. The symbol of their one enemy, the one who had manipulated him and his friends in order for him to obtain the power of space and time and destroy logic itself – Fei Wong Reed.

But…this couldn't be him. Fei Wong had disappeared when Kurogane dealt the final blow, with no way to return. Plus, this person's physique differentiated greatly from that of their former enemy. Syaoran couldn't even remember what had happened to this signature weapon of his when that had happened. How could it have turned up here?

Although he almost didn't want to, curiosity compelled him, and Syaoran moved his gaze to the person holding the blade…and he didn't understand what he was looking at. He blinked once, and took multiple double-takes to make sure what he was seeing wasn't a trick of the mind.

It was a person wearing a pitch-black cloak. In the middle of a desert. If not for the fact that the person in question was pointing a sword at him, or that he saw huge blood stains on the cloak (that gave him the sickening feeling that it didn't belong to this person) Syaoran would have immediately called him out on it. But in this situation it was hardly the time or place.

This person – whoever it was – appeared surprisingly younger than what Syaoran had been expecting – probably not that much older than himself, even. Syaoran couldn't make out what he looked like because he had pulled the hood over his face, but that didn't matter. The posture was one of weariness – not physical, but psychological. The way his feet were spaced out, the way his shoulders sagged ever so slightly – Syaoran could tell that this person, no matter how young he seemed to be, just seemed to be saying _I'm done dealing with the world._ He seemed to be pointing this sword at Syaoran and threatening his life just because he could, and he didn't care about the consequences.

The two of them stood that way, this unknown person holding this massive blade at Syaoran's throat while Syaoran himself kept from moving, for an immeasurable amount of time. The only sounds were the water running in the garden fountain and the unmistakable sound of the true princess weeping from somewhere to his left, which almost drowned out another faint yet still present sound – Tsubasa, whimpering in pain.

Syaoran wanted to turn around to check, but he wasn't exactly in the position to. After the stand-off lasted a couple more seconds, Syaoran decided that he would wait no longer and spoke up. He was careful with his words though, since he didn't want this person decapitating him by saying the wrong thing outright.

"Who are you?" Syaoran asked him, keeping his voice level. "What is it that you want?"

His adversary didn't respond to his questions for a moment, not budging a muscle. Eventually though, after what seemed like ages, Syaoran could see his lips turn up into a kind of smirk from underneath the shadow of the hood, like he somehow found Syaoran's queries to be amusing – but not in a good way.

Then this mysterious person spoke for the first time.

"So you're the other one," he mused, and the sound of his voice shocked Syaoran. He felt the tip of the blade puncture his skin and the blood trickling down his neck when this unidentified boy (judging from what he seemed to be, anyway) pushed up Syaoran's chin with the sword as if to get a better look at his face. "You really are the spitting image of him. Not that I expected any less, considering what you really are."

Syaoran was as baffled as he was angry. The voice of their attacker didn't match what he saw before him – definitely that of a boy, a teenager, maybe, but it was too high-pitched and the words were what he'd expected to come out of a an adult's lips. His voice was too young for his words. Too much innocence, too much lightness – it just didn't make sense.

Even through this Syaoran felt hot anger surging through his chest. "What have you done to Tsubasa?" he asked, his voice trembling in his rage. "Tell me!"

The boy laughed (it was now impossible to picture his face any other way, which sickened Syaoran even more), high and cold. "Relax. He isn't dead, if that's what you were wondering. You don't need to worry about him _quite_ yet."

That answer only exacerbated Syaoran's anger, but he fought to keep it at bay. He couldn't lose it here. "I know that. That's why I asked!"

Syaoran imagined this boy staring at him with an amused expression under the hood, even though he'd stopped laughing by this point. "You know, you're pretty interesting," he noted off-handedly. "I think I'll let you stick around for now. You'll spice up this game pretty well, from what I can see."

With those words, he finally lowered his sword. Syaoran had no idea what he meant but he couldn't care less about that at the moment. He backed off as soon as the touch of cold metal left his skin and immediately placed himself between the boy and Sakura in order to shield her from the threat, in case he tried anything. As he looked up he caught sight of the princess kneeling on the ground a ways away, holding Tsubasa close to her as if to protect him from further harm. Tears streaked down her pale cheeks and dripped down into Tsubasa's hair. His face was buried in the princess's embrace, but Syaoran could see that he was trembling.

As his eyes lingered on the two for a couple extra seconds, he noticed that something else was very wrong. Syaoran whipped his head around to glare at their oppressor.

"Where are my friends?" he demanded, his voice tense. "Where are Fai and Kurogane? Tell me!"

"Oh, don't worry about them," the boy said callously, casually licking blood off his left thumb. "They're still alive, so don't worry your little head over it. I just left them inside that palace. They weren't too much of a challenge, so that was one disappointment." The boy lowered his hand and sighed, shrugging. "But who am I to complain, really? Seeing them at my mercy made up for it in spades. So much so, actually, that I decided not to kill them. You know, as thanks for entertaining me. So they're fine."

What Syaoran was hearing just didn't register in his mind. This person sounded so…so careless about the fact that he'd nearly killed his friends, and writing them off as "not much of a challenge". Not only that, but he actually seemed to think that having them beg for their lives made up for their encounter being boring. Whoever this was…he wasn't human. He _couldn't_ be human.

Syaoran could also tell from the boy's tone of voice that neither of his friends were fine in any sense of the word. Both his dread and fury escalated at the implications of his words, and he almost wanted to just straight-up attack him. But Syaoran knew that it would be pointless, not to mention really, _really_ stupid on his part. Besides, he was weaponless. He was at a clear disadvantage.

"Yeah, I wouldn't try anything funny if I were you," the boy said amiably, as if he had read his thoughts. "You don't want me in a bad mood. _Unless_, of course, you want your other self to take the fall for being stupid; then I'm more than happy to oblige."

He made no move, but Syaoran suddenly heard a piercing scream hit his eardrums that made his heart nearly jump out of his throat. He whipped his head around to where Tsubasa was, and his pupils dilated in pure horror when he saw what he was looking at.

Tsubasa was writhing in the princess's arms, howling in pure agony, and the princess herself wore an expression of pure terror and helplessness as she watched her beloved being psychologically tortured with no way to stave it off. He heard Sakura gasp at the sight from somewhere behind him. Syaoran began seeing red and Sakura had to hold him back to keep him from leaping at the boy.

"Leave him alone!" Syaoran shouted, his voice practically a roar. "Don't lay another finger on him! I'll make you pay!"

"Syaoran, no!" Sakura pleaded with him as she held him back by his shoulders. "Don't make him angry! You heard him; he'll hurt Tsubasa and you both if you do!"

Their oppressor didn't seem fazed at all by Syaoran's rage. In fact, he actually began to _laugh_. "Wow, I _did_ make the right choice in not killing you! I'm glad I decided to keep you around!" His laughter stopped abruptly, though his lips parted into a psychotic smile as he did. "Well…Syaoran, is it? This should be fun, much more fun than I ever expected things to be. I can't wait to see how my grand scheme will play out."

Syaoran's anger subsided infinitesimally, if only to be replaced by the trepidation that came with those words. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, despite not being sure whether he actually wanted to know or not.

"What else?" The boy laughed. "You know that there isn't anything you can do for him" – he gestured at Tsubasa and the princess behind him – "and that's not even the best part. You _know_ that you can't help him, which means that you'll keep blaming yourself for your precious Tsubasa being this way, as I know for a _fact_ that you are wont to do. You'll be overcome by despair, and your other self will eventually…how should I say…_expire_. And there's nothing you can do about it." The boy laughed again at this, leaving Syaoran numb. "It's the best fun ever! This is going to be just perfect!"

This knocked the breath right out of him. "No…you – you're out of your mind!" Syaoran could barely keep his thoughts straight. "You're insane!"

"Insane? Now I think that's going a little too far," the boy chided him, wagging a bloodied finger as if he were chastising a naughty puppy. "That wasn't very nice of you. _Insensitive_ is the right word here."

Syaoran didn't care _how_ insensitive he'd sounded. It wasn't like this monster deserved any kind of sympathy anyhow.

"But still, you're just getting more and more fascinating by the second," he continued, his lips stretching into an unnatural grin. "I guess this Tsubasa _was_ the right one to go after in the end. This means that I've been making all the right choices so far, which is good."

Syaoran's voice cracked when he whispered the words, "Why? Why him?"

The boy's only response to his plea was to smirk and tap the side of his head knowingly. "That's for me to know, and for you to suffer for. Anyway, I've had my fill of hearing your little Tsubasa's shouts of pure agony. I'll end his suffering…just for the moment."

He flicked his fingers again and the screaming turned to silence with an abrupt, strangled intake of breath, and Tsubasa's entire body suddenly became limp in the princess's arms. The boy opened up a tear in space with another flick of his fingers and backed into it, melting into its shadows with a taunting wave.

In the end, all Syaoran could do was watch.

* * *

…_And we finally have a long (well, longer) chapter._

_Sorry about the late update. I had quite a bit of drama to handle these past couple days…but worry you not; I will make sure that I'll get the next chapter out sooner. (I'll try really hard to, I mean.)_

_And I realize that Syaoran seems a little OOC here. I'm sorry; I'm just using him as a means to vent my frustration at the moment. Even so, in this situation I imagine that he wouldn't be too happy anyway._

_Thanks for your patience, and look forward to the next chapter! :)_


	7. Impact

_My Internet is down so I have to use a roundabout way to post these chapters for a while, which means updates might be slower. I hope that you'll understand. :)_

_Man, nothing is happening on the KH-verse in this fic. You know, other than finding Kairi's dead body. Well, I'm gonna change that with this here chapter 6. It's taking a while, isn't it? But hey, rushing into a story will leave readers confused! And I won't have that! No sir._

_Anyway, enjoy chapter 6, wherein plot finally begins (in KH-verse)! :)_

**Ch. 6: Impact**

Riku figured that the universe either really, really hated him, or just wanted to be an overall jerk – Kairi was dead, Sora was still MIA, not to mention Riku's only hope for assistance was now gone in the form of Lea's impaled corpse.

"I can't believe this," Riku intoned over and over to himself, shaking his head. "This…this has got to be some sick joke. Just some messed up joke!"

Whoever – or whatever – was behind all these weird goings-on, they clearly just wanted to mess with his psyche. Plus, it didn't look like they were making things easier on him as far as finding Sora was concerned. Riku had come to his friend Lea in Radiant Garden in hopes of at least getting some clues leading him in the right direction, but as if the universe was saying _Your best friend vanished and his girlfriend is dead, so hey – why not have your only way of finding him bite the dust?_, he just kept ending up back at square one.

"This…this is just going too far!" he growled.

His red-haired comrade lay dead at his feet, in the middle of his home. He'd been killed in almost the same way as Kairi had – if even more brutally. In addition to the familiar gaping and gory wound in Lea's chest, his own Keyblade had penetrated his pelvis and pinned the corpse to the floor. Judging from what Riku saw, it probably hadn't even been the finishing blow. It looked like it had been done out of sick satisfaction after killing him. As nauseated as he was at this sight, Riku could at least take something from this death.

The culprit was likely a Keyblade wielder, much like Lea and Riku himself. Who else could have taken Lea's Keyblade to do such a thing? Who would do something like this? Unless this person had stabbed it in quickly enough that it didn't vanish from his or her hands, he could only think of one person.

Xehanort.

But that was impossible. Xehanort was good and dead now. Sora had seen to that himself. But Riku couldn't think of any other Keyblade wielder who would have killed Lea in this fashion…no, even killed like this _at all_…

"This…this can't have been Xehanort…right?" he wondered aloud.

Then a new but not-unfamiliar voice said unexpectedly from behind him, "No…it isn't him. Xehanort is definitely dead."

Riku whirled around to the direction of the voice, which had come from the open front door. Just outside the threshold of the stone doorway was –

"Roxas?!" Riku exclaimed in astonishment.

There was no mistaking this blonde Nobody. He was Sora's other self, after all, created when his best friend had unlocked his own heart to release Kairi's and turned into a Heartless. He looked exactly the same as Riku remembered, albeit slightly older, as he was one of the few Nobodies that could age along with their Somebodies. The mere presence of Roxas surprised him, but what really floored Riku was the state that he was in.

Roxas looked as if he'd come out and lost a fight with an angry bear. His clothes were shredded and there was a huge gash on his right pant leg that revealed an equally huge and bloody scar. His face and arms were scratched up and cut, and his blood streamed from his hairline down to his chin. The blood dyed his blond hair crimson in some places. He also looked like he was barely able to stand – he was bracing himself against the door frame with his right hand, which was also gripping the black Oblivion Keyblade. Whatever Roxas had gone through to look this way…it probably hadn't been pleasant.

"Riku…" Roxas grunted with difficulty. His voice was strangled. "I thought I'd find you here…"

"What…what happened to you?" Riku gasped.

Before Roxas could answer him, his knees buckled beneath him and he fell forward. Riku rushed to catch him before he hit the stone-hard floor. Oblivion slipped from Roxas's bloodied fingers and vanished in a whirl of shadow as it clattered to the ground.

"H-hey, pull yourself together," Riku said frantically, pulling the young blonde upright and acting as his crutch. "What happened to you, Roxas? What're you doing here? And why did you want to find me?"

Roxas drew in a shuddering breath before answering. "I'm the one who should be asking you that question," he exhaled with difficulty, giving Riku a weary yet hard sideways glance. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Riku started. "Um…I'm here because…"

"You wanted some information on where Sora is, right?"

Riku was so shocked he almost dropped him. "Do – do you know something, Roxas?" he demanded desperately.

Roxas didn't answer his question. Instead he said in a low voice, "You noticed it, didn't you? How anything that could help you find Sora is being shot down one by one? Which includes having your other friends slaughtered?"

"Y-yeah," Riku confirmed shakily. "And I can't begin to imagine how many other people have been…" He couldn't finish the thought. He didn't want to think about it.

"Yeah…it's not something someone wants to think about," Roxas agreed as if he'd read Riku's thoughts.

"Is that how – I mean – why you're so…" Riku trailed off.

Roxas suddenly fell silent, staring down at his feet. His expression was unreadable, and Riku got the message.

"Okay, never mind," he sighed. "Forget I asked. But still…seeing you here…that means that…whoever took him isn't planning on killing him too, right?"

Roxas still wouldn't say anything, and Riku wondered if he was asking the wrong questions. He started to feel bad, and was about to dismiss the questions when the Nobody unexpectedly replied heavily, "Yeah. He's still alive. No one is planning on killing him…not yet, anyway."

Hearing this washed relief over Riku. Finally, some _good_ news. He knew that Sora was still alive, but at least now he also knew he wasn't going to be killed for the time being. They still had time to find him and rescue him. Hope wasn't lost yet.

"So, do you know where he is, Roxas?" he asked urgently. "Well?"

"Listen, it's not as simple as just finding Sora and rescuing him, Riku," Roxas warned him. "Especially considering the fact that –"

He was suddenly interrupted by a violent fit of coughing, causing blood to spew from his mouth onto his free hand. It didn't last too long, but once it was over the blonde Nobody felt even heavier in Riku's arms. Riku quickly led him to a nearby couch and sat him down on it. Riku lowered himself to one knee next to Roxas on the hard ground.

"Roxas," Riku said, shaken by what he'd just witnessed. "Never mind my questions; don't talk so much in this condition. You'll only hurt yourself!"

Roxas glowered at him through his sudden weakness. "It doesn't make a difference to me whether I'm hurting myself or not," he said curtly, though his voice sounded raspy from the coughing. "I can't afford any pleasantries right now. You wanted to know why I look like this, right? Or before that, why I'm even here at all talking to you?"

"Well, I –"

"Then here; maybe this will get your butt in gear," Roxas cut him off. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes as he let out a huge sigh. "I know where Sora is."

Riku's heart stopped for a fraction of a second longer than it should have at those words. "Wh-what – you do?!" he spluttered incoherently. "But how –"

"Long story." Roxas's eyes were still closed, but his blood-blotted face looked resigned. "But the reason I look like this is part of why Sora's missing, and part of why both Kairi and Lea were murdered." His voice was tinged with bitterness as he said that, and Riku could guess why.

"Anyway, once I realized what was really going on, I came to look for you," Roxas went on, finally opening his eyes, which suddenly took on a faraway look. "And it's a good thing I found you when I did. It might still be possible to save him."

"So what you're telling me is that you've known what's been going on this entire time?" Riku asked desperately. "You know who's behind this?"

Roxas nodded weakly and wiped some of the blood away from his brow. "Yeah. This person…he's been going around to all the different worlds, including some you've never seen or heard of, and causing all sorts of carnage – curses, tortures, murders – you name it, he's done it. And he's doing all that simply for the sake of causing pain. No more, no less."

"Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"Well, let me put it this way…" Roxas sat up again with difficulty, braced himself by resting his elbows on his thighs, and stared down at his feet again. "Kairi isn't the only Princess of Heart he's messed with. Let's leave it at that."

Riku felt his eyes widen in pure horror. Oh…oh my God…how can – I can't believe – that's just so –"

"Messed up," Roxas finished for him. "An understatement, probably, but you're right. "You can't even call that evil, since there's no reason behind what he's doing. Morality doesn't exist for him, and he commits these acts with no trace of guilt at all. I fell victim to that lack of remorse."

Realization hit Riku like a sack of anvils. "So that's why you're –" he gasped.

"That's right," Roxas said, raising his blood-soaked hands and examining them. "_He_ did this to me. The only reason I haven't disappeared is because he got bored of me, and I took that chance to get away. Now you've got to go and confront him." He raised his head and stared Riku in the eyes, blue to cyan, and continued, "I can tell you – no, I can _take_ you to where he is. Once we get there, you can deal with the person behind this carnage. But first, you have to promise me something."

Before Riku could ask what he meant, Roxas suddenly grabbed Riku by the collar and pulled him so close he could feel Roxas's ragged breathing on his cheeks. Riku could feel the tension in his grip and grew wary at his firm, no-nonsense expression.

"Promise me this, Riku," the Nobody hissed into his ear. His voice was as firm as his expression, and shook with suppressed anger. "Promise me that – no matter _what_ happens – you _will_ kill the one behind all these crimes. I don't care who does it, or when it happens, or even how you do it. _He just needs to_ _die_. Do you hear me?"

There was a double meaning behind those words that Riku detected but couldn't figure out, and he couldn't deny that it was somewhat disconcerting. He wondered just who it could be for Roxas to want him dead so badly that he didn't care about the means or the cost.

But there was no time to dwell on it. Time was ticking with no reprieve, and Riku couldn't afford to waste it – not if it involved this monster deciding to change his mind at the last minute and kill his best friend simply for pleasure's sake. He nodded in affirmation.

"Don't worry," Riku promised determinedly. "I'll definitely have this guy dead for all his crimes. I swear it. You can count on me."

Roxas took in his words for a brief moment, and finally released his hold on him. "Good. Just wanted to make sure," he said, managing a half-hearted grin. He moved to rise from his seat on the couch with some difficulty. "But if you're going to do this, you're going to need some help. So I'm going to take you to some other acquaintances of mine. They're waiting for you."

Riku opened his mouth to ask what he meant by that, but Roxas just opened up a corridor and shoved him through it before he could.

* * *

_Soooooooo slooooooooowww…_

_Ahem._

_Well, I hope that this chapter erased any lingering doubts of whether KH would have an integral impact on the plot. I _am_ killing a lot of KH characters, though, and it's not even halfway through the fic…and I'm not favoring TRC's universe over KH's; what are you thinking anyway? *shifty eyes*_

_But seriously, I'm not. It just ended up this way when I finished drafting this, I swear._

_Anyway, come next chapter and the two universes will finally meet! :D Took me long enough, didn't it? Haha XD_

_Hope you enjoyed this, and thank you so much for your amazing patience. I will put up chapter 7 as soon as I can! Thanks, and read & review! :D_


	8. Unsettled

_At last the two universes meet after eons of eons! …Kind of! :D_

_I seriously have nothing to say here, so just enjoy chapter 7!_

**Ch. 7: Unsettled**

The last thing Syaoran needed right now was another enemy.

Or at least that's what he thought when a different person showed up. He was completely spent after the events that had just transpired – his mind felt increasingly brittle, and any more disturbances to it would make it crumble. So naturally he was wary the second a different portal opened up and another stranger emerged from it, minutes after their oppressor left. The person looked about the same age as their enemy from before, appeared badly beaten up (he was covered in injuries and blood), and didn't look like much of a threat in general, but Syaoran kept his guard up regardless. He was holding a strange object in his right hand – was that a giant black key?

"Who are you?" he asked the young stranger immediately, not wanting to take any chances. "What do you want?"

The stranger raised both of his hands as the portal dissipated in order to placate him. "Calm down. I'm not your enemy."

Syaoran glared at him suspiciously. "I asked you a question. Tell me who you are."

The stranger sighed in resignation. "You don't trust me, do you?" he guessed wearily, letting the giant key disappear in a web of darkness. "Well, I guess I should have put my weapon away before speaking to you. I expected as much, though, after what you've just had to deal with."

Syaoran started. He knew about what had just happened? Had this person been watching all that the whole time? Why hadn't he stepped in if that were the case? His wariness kicked up a couple notches after hearing this, and backed up a couple steps.

"How do you know about that?" Syaoran demanded. "Just who are you?"

"Paranoia at its finest," the stranger chuckled under his breath. "You remind me of someone I know. But anyway, since you insist, I'll tell you who I am. Let's get right to introductions."

The newcomer stepped closer to Syaoran, who flinched back instinctively, and held out a hand to shake.

"Glad to finally meet you in person, Syaoran," he said. "My name is Roxas."

* * *

Syaoran stared at his outstretched hand, but didn't take it.

Roxas lowered his hand. "Still suspicious, huh?" he noted. "I don't blame you, really. After what just happened to you guys, you have every right to be."

Syaoran didn't bother to bandy words with him. "Are you with…with _him_?" he asked tersely. How else would this Roxas know about what he'd done to Tsubasa?

To his surprise, Roxas laughed. "Me? In league with that guy?" He winced as he put a hand to his chest and fell to one knee. Syaoran made no move to help him, though. "That's a good one. That's the second-craziest thing that I've ever heard."

Syaoran felt his face slacken in shock. "Wait…what does that mean?"

"Never mind," Roxas sighed. "But seriously, I'm not with him. I wouldn't join him even if he paid me in hearts."

"Excuse me?"

"What I'm trying to say here, Syaoran, is that I'm here to offer you help. I saw everything that happened just now. And I know who you all are. I've been watching you. For a long time now."

Syaoran's breath caught in his throat. "You were…watching us? That's how you know my name?"

"Not only yours." Roxas turned to the princesses at his left, who had been listening to their conversation without so much as a peep, and they both flinched when the young blonde looked in their direction. "This Sakura is your special person, right, Syaoran? And both of you are copies of them" – he gestured to the true princess and Tsubasa – "that Tsubasa brought back?"

Syaoran's head spun with nausea. This person knew too much. Way too much.

"Y-yes," Syaoran managed. He couldn't deny any of this. "That's right."

"And now Tsubasa is cursed, thanks to that new enemy of yours," Roxas finished, "and you have no idea how to help him. That's the general gist, isn't it?"

Syaoran couldn't speak by this point. He just nodded.

Sakura, however, decided to speak for him. "So…Roxas, am I right?" she asked cautiously.

"Yes, that's right."

"You said that you're not with that horrible person," Sakura began, turning to face him, "and now you're offering to help us. You seem to know a lot about us too."

"Yes," he said. "Though I don't think Syaoran trusts me to help you."

"Well, to me, you don't feel like an enemy," she went on. "I don't sense any malevolence coming from you. I…I trust you, Roxas."

"Sakura!" Syaoran said in surprise.

"Listen, Syao…I know you're wary of him," she admitted, standing now in order to see him eye to eye. "But if he had any evil intentions, I would feel it. We can trust him. And besides, he may know how to wake Tsubasa. We can't pass by any opportunity to help him!"

Syaoran immediately felt horrible. If Sakura didn't feel any negative intentions from Roxas, then he shouldn't have been acting so distrustful. And he'd almost lost the chance to possibly help Tsubasa, who was still unconscious. Syaoran knew that this reprieve of pain on his part was only temporary, and he had to find a way to save him without letting that happen.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, guilt burning in his chest. "If you say we can trust him, then…I believe you."

He then looked to Roxas, who was still on one knee. "Roxas…I'm sorry for suspecting you."

The blonde merely shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I'm used to it by now." He slowly made as if to stand, but his legs started to shake, so he gave up. "Ugh, stupid legs. So, now that you trust me…will you take my offer?"

Before anyone could reply, Roxas doubled over and coughed so violently Syaoran was afraid that he'd choke to death. When his coughing fit was over, his breathing was short and ragged, and his hand was so soaked in his blood it looked like he'd dipped it in a bowl of the crimson fluids.

"But Roxas," the young princess protested, "you're in rough shape! Let us help you first!"

"There isn't any time," Roxas countered in a hoarse voice, waving her away. "We can't stall, or Tsubasa won't wake up ever again."

Syaoran's breath caught in his throat. "Are – are you sure about that?" he stammered. "How do you know?"

"Believe me, I know a curse ending in death when I see one," Roxas said darkly. "Anyway, if you're going to stop the person behind this, then you're going to need help. I'll bring someone who can help you save Tsubasa. He also happens to have some ongoing business with this guy."

"You mean that – that psychopath has gone to other worlds too?!" Syaoran blurted out without thinking. There were just so many questions spinning around in his head in a tempest of confusion, he didn't know where to begin asking them.

Roxas had managed to stand up by this point, and opened up a shadowy portal identical to the one he'd come out of. He didn't seem shocked that Syaoran knew of other worlds. "Pretty much. But I'll explain everything in full once I get back." He started to step into the shadows. "Sit tight; I'll be a couple minutes."

"No, wait!" Syaoran cried out, but Roxas vanished through the portal, and the column of shadow too faded away shortly after, leaving them alone once more.

* * *

It took a minute and Sakura tugging on his arm for Syaoran to realize that he couldn't just stand there and stay angry at himself while waiting for Roxas to come back.

"Come on," she urged him gently. "Right now, all we can do is wait."

"Y-yeah…you're right."

"Let's check on Tsubasa," Sakura suggested. "Even if we can't wake him right now, we can still be there for him."

She pulled Syaoran along the short path, letting him go once they reached Tsubasa and the true princess, who sensed their approach and looked up at them. Fresh tears were welled up in her jade-green eyes, highlighting her anguished expression.

"Oh, Syaoran," she whimpered, lowering her head again and pulling her love's limp form even closer. "Tsubasa…Tsubasa's been…"

Syaoran bit his lip to keep it from trembling. He couldn't afford to show any weakness in front of the princess. It wouldn't be fair to her, and she'd been through enough as it was. He had to be strong for both Sakura and Princess Tsubasa, since at the moment he was the only person they could lean on.

But what could he say to them? He wanted to tell them that everything would be okay, but the current circumstances were so tenuous that saying it now would feel like telling a lie. All the reassurances that followed in his mind seemed like feeble excuses now, simply inadequate and empty thoughts. As much as he wanted to lift their spirits, he couldn't lie. He couldn't play with their emotions like that.

Instead of speaking, Syaoran opted to kneel down to the princess's eye level to get a closer look at Tsubasa. He still wasn't moving, and his skin looked deathly pale even in the waning light of the evening sun. The reflected orange-yellow from the sunlight contrasted too harshly with his complexion. His chest was barely moving.

Princess Tsubasa shifted slightly in position, causing Syaoran to break his gaze away to look up at her. She appeared conflicted, like she was on the verge of revealing a secret.

"Princess?" he asked uncertainly. "Is there…something else bothering you?"

She continued to hesitate, which caused worry to gnaw at his chest. What else could possibly go wrong at this point? How could this situation possibly go even more awry?

At last the princess finally mustered up her courage, wiped away her lingering tears, and managed to say, "Syaoran, Sakura…I – I want you to see this."

She'd been holding Tsubasa so closely to her that his face hadn't been visible, but she now released her hold on him just enough so that she was cradling him like a sleeping child. What Syaoran saw made him catch his breath.

"No…" he whispered in denial. "That…that is…"

Sakura's hands flew to her mouth. "It can't be…"

But it was, and it threatened to crush all of them beneath a mountain of despair. The palm-sized mark that now shimmered threateningly above Tsubasa's heart acted as a harbinger for worse things to come.

Princess Tsubasa's next words cemented what they were seeing as the horrible truth. "It's…it's the death seal."

Syaoran's hands shook at this realization, and his eyes were frozen open in horror; he couldn't close them. He couldn't tear his gaze away from the seal. It looked almost exactly as Tsubasa had once described to him – a pair of dark ribbon-like wings that were fanned out. But the longer he stared at it, the more he noticed a subtle feature that didn't quite fit.

"W-wait a minute," he said quickly. "This can't be…this can't be _that_ death seal. Something is different."

"How?" Princess Tsubasa asked him her voice tinged with desperation. "What's different?"

"Well, from what Tsubasa told me of this death seal…it doesn't quite match. He told me that when he saw this mark upon you, the seal grew bigger in size every day." Syaoran paused briefly before continuing. "But this…this seal isn't growing. It's shrinking."

So it was. Even now, the seal was decreasing in size. The difference was infinitesimal, but it was definitely getting smaller.

"So then…what becomes of Tsubasa now?" Sakura's eyes held a faint glimmer of hope, wanting so badly to believe that maybe – just maybe – things weren't as bad as they appeared. "Is what Roxas said still true? If we don't do something soon, will Tsubasa really…"

She didn't finish her question, but Syaoran knew what she was asking, and he didn't want to answer her. He couldn't bear to see the sadness replace what little hope she had once she heard his theory. But he knew it wouldn't be right to leave either of them hanging.

"I don't know," he confessed at last. "I really don't. But I do know this…whatever curse this might be, it's much worse than the death seal. If this curse manages to fulfill what we suspect to be its purpose, it won't be a painless death for Tsubasa. I'm sure of that.

"Even now, he's going through the worst torture imaginable. And I…I won't let this go on any longer than it already has." Syaoran stood, the loose grains of sand from the brick pathway shifting beneath his feet. "Whatever it takes, I will find that boy. And when I do…" He clenched his hands into fists so tightly his knuckles were probably white underneath his gloves. "I swear that I will make him pay for what he did. No matter what."

Both princesses were silent for a couple heartbeats. Then Sakura said hesitantly, "Syaoran, you don't mean…you're not actually going to go and – and _kill_ that boy, are you?"

Cold fury rippled through Syaoran's chest. "And if I do?"

"You can't!" Princess Tsubasa burst out suddenly. "Listen, all of us are distraught, Syaoran, and our only hopes are riding on someone we barely know. But killing the boy isn't the answer, and you know this! It goes completely against who you are! Even more than that – think about how Tsubasa would feel about what you're planning to do! He wouldn't want anyone to be killed on his account – not even the boy who made him this way!"

"I know that."

"Then why are you –"

"I don't want to do this!" Syaoran interrupted more harshly than he'd meant to, but a trace of the anger he'd been holding in slipped out. "I don't want to kill him any more than you! But if killing him is the only way that Tsubasa can be saved, then I'll do what I have to do."

The princess recoiled slightly at Syaoran's tone, and he immediately felt horrible for letting his temper get the best of him in front of her.

"I'm sorry," he said shortly. "I didn't mean to raise my voice at you."

She merely nodded in response to his apology, probably still in shock at seeing Syaoran acting so strangely. He knew that he only had himself to blame for that – this was a side of him that rarely showed, if at all.

Not only that, but he actually had meant what he said when he'd raised his voice – if killing that boy was the only way to break the hold this curse had over Tsubasa, then he would. The very thought of seeking out someone's life intentionally – unlike the time he'd spent acting as Fei Wong's mindless puppet and killing machine – utterly revolted him, and he himself had momentarily been horrified that he'd even voiced such a thing. He didn't want to end that boy's life, truthfully, and wished he could avoid doing so. Maybe he was being manipulated and brainwashed, as Syaoran himself had been years ago. Granted, Tsubasa _had_ tried to kill him on several occasions because of that, but only because he'd felt obligated to, as he'd believed that Syaoran had been his responsibility and he'd ultimately failed to bring him under control. And in the end, he'd been the one who'd declared that he'd find a way for all four of them to live together…and he had. Hence the main reason Syaoran wanted to avoid killing this boy. He didn't want to take the life of someone who wasn't in his right mind. Syaoran would never forgive himself for murdering someone like that, even if that someone was an enemy.

Putting those thoughts aside, Syaoran tried to pull himself together. He had to step up and take charge, since as of now he was the only one who could fill the position of leader.

"I think we should take him inside," he suggested. "We can't sit here outside while we're waiting. How is Tsubasa feeling right now?"

The princess looked as if she was on the verge of tears again. "He's…his body is ice-cold. It's almost like he's…" She choked out her next words. "It's like he's dead."

Syaoran's own blood turned to ice when he heard this. "Oh, no…" he whispered. This shrinking seal lingering over Tsubasa's heart…just what exactly was it doing to him?

Then the princess spoke up again. "But…"

Syaoran waited for her next words with bated breath.

"His entire body is like ice," she repeated, "but his heart, where the seal is…it's extremely warm. It's like the mark is pooling all his body heat into itself."

"It…it is?" Syaoran couldn't believe it. "But how can that be?"

Sakura moved to place her hand on the seal over Tsubasa's heart, and her hand flinched back after only a moment. "She's telling the truth, Syao," she relayed to him, her tone laced in panic. "The mark is very hot, and the rest of him is freezing cold!"

"No way…" Syaoran knelt down next to the princess to check for himself. He placed his hand over the mark, and a scalding heat penetrated the fabric of his gloves and nearly burned his palm almost immediately. He quickly pulled his hand back to avoid actually burning himself, then placed that same hand over Tsubasa's forehead. The difference in temperature was staggering – it was as if he'd laid his hands on stone-cold marble after touching a metal sheet that had been sitting out in the sun.

"This…this is unbelievable," Syaoran muttered, almost to himself. "How is he still alive?"

"I'd rather we not complain about that," Sakura said pointedly, her voice rather shaken. "But anyway, you're right, Syao; we should take him inside. Then we can –"

"There's no point in you doing that," a familiar voice sounded from behind Syaoran, who whirled around on the spot to face that direction. That same smoking pillar of shadow billowed into existence, and Syaoran's heart clenched in anticipation.

"Roxas…he's finally back," Syaoran intoned to himself, slightly breathless as the blonde came into view. He still didn't look much better than before (if anything he actually looked worse), but before Syaoran could dwell on that for even a moment, he saw another, taller figure step out of the shadows. When the figure came into full view, Syaoran saw that it was another boy that appeared slightly older than Roxas, with shoulder-length silver hair that framed his hard cyan eyes, which were surveying his new surroundings.

"Syaoran," Roxas said as the portal closed, getting right down to business. "This is who I was talking about. His name is Riku."

* * *

_And so the two universes meet at the beginning (kind of) and end of this chapter! Hope I pulled it off okay. And this is definitely the longest chapter I've written for this so far. Huh…is this a sign?_

_Argh, the first two scenes didn't come out like I'd hoped…probably since they were never drafted and I wrote them from scratch. Well, I guess I'll make-do. :P Anyway. I hope you enjoyed this read! Next chapter everyone will get to know each other (kind of), and the villain will finally be revealed! *DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN* XD_

_Look forward to it, everyone! I know I am!_


	9. Acquaintances

_Oh my God, I've been waiting ages to write this chapter! And I went all out on it! :D I hope you enjoy as much as you can, because this chapter will end in that one thing readers always hate – a cliffhanger! :D_

_And my Internet is back! Huzzah!_

**Ch. 8: Acquaintances**

Riku's first impression of the kid – not much.

He really didn't know what to make of him. He looked pretty young – fifteen or sixteen, maybe, but it was kind of hard to tell – his face looked timeless; he looked like he could be fifteen or twenty-five. He had light brown hair and bright amber eyes, and Riku could detect in them vigilance and maturity well beyond his apparent age. Impressive for someone whose line of sight barely came up to Riku's chin.

Still, Riku was confused. This was the acquaintance that had been waiting for him? He really didn't look like much at all; there weren't a whole lot of things remarkable about this kid – whom Roxas had called Syaoran earlier – other than the way he carried himself. He just looked like, well, an ordinary kid.

While his mind was pondering these things, Riku took note of the people behind Syaoran – two identical girls wearing pink dresses, their eyes a dark shade of jade, and their hair brown and cut short. One was standing next to Syaoran and holding his right arm, and the other was holding another person identical to Syaoran in her arms on the ground. Though Riku couldn't tell too well from where he was standing, he didn't look like he was in such great shape.

…So Roxas had brought him to these twin couples for what reason?

"Um…"

Riku was brought out of his thoughts by this verbal cue from the young teenager standing before him. He started and redirected his attention to Syaoran, who was eyeing him with an unreadable expression – apprehension? Anticipation? He couldn't tell. Syaoran was frustratingly difficult to read.

"So your name is Riku, right?" the boy asked, holding out a gloved hand to shake. "I'm Syaoran, and this is Sakura. It's nice to meet you."

Sakura bowed slightly as a greeting and mumbled a quiet hello.

After a brief moment of surprise, Riku took it and shook once. He could feel heat clinging to the fabric of the gloves, as if it had handled something hot prior to their meeting. "Likewise," Riku replied. "So, according to Roxas, I guess you're the acquaintance he was talking about."

Syaoran nodded once then turned to the two behind him. "Roxas told me…he'd bring someone back with him that could help break the curse placed on Tsubasa" – he gestured to the boy on the ground – "so I waited until he came back, and he brought you."

Riku frowned. Roxas hadn't mentioned anything about helping this stranger break a curse on another stranger. He briefly spared a glance of confusion in Roxas's direction. Just what did that Nobody have in mind for this plan, anyway? How did he know these people?

"I – I see." Riku fixed his gaze on the other boy. "So that's him, huh?"

"Yes." Syaoran eyed Riku earnestly. "I know we've just met, and we know that you have your own issues with the person that cursed Tsubasa so I'm sorry to impose this favor on you. But Roxas told us that we can't break this curse without your help. If Tsubasa dies, then Sakura and I will disappear."

So apparently Roxas had told these people about what had been going on at his end, if only briefly. Riku was now more sure than ever that his best friend's other was keeping something from him – he just couldn't imagine what.

But something Syaoran had just said got stuck in his mind.

"W-wait just a minute," Riku said in shock. "Are you – are you for real?! If that Tsubasa dies, then you'll disapp – but how –"

Here Roxas cut in, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived in this unfamiliar world. "Let me explain this, Riku. The truth is, Syaoran and Sakura are what we would call replicas. They're copies of Tsubasa and that other princess who shares the same name."

"Oh…I see." Riku felt like an idiot. Okay, so they weren't twin couples; they were just clone…couples? He should have expected as much drawing from everything else he'd experienced throughout his life. "But that still doesn't explain one thing."

"What?"

"Well, I understand why Syaoran would disappear if Tsubasa were to die, but why Sakura? I mean, she isn't related to him in any way, right?"

"That's not how it works in this world," Roxas said flatly. "Here, if the creator of these copies dies, then his or her creations will disappear too. And from what I know Tsubasa created both of them, so their lives are inevitably bound to his."

"My God…" Riku turned his gaze to Roxas, who was standing a little ways away with a troubled expression. "So how do you know so much about this, anyway? For all I know you met them only minutes before you came to see me."

Roxas sighed and grinned half-heartedly as he said, "Well, let me tell you this…traveling through other worlds unnoticed can really pay off."

Riku palmed his face and shook his head in incredulity. "Unbelievable," he muttered under his breath.

"Never mind that, Riku. Remember why I brought you here in the first place."

"Of course I remember." Riku scowled. "But you still haven't explained to me how meeting these people and helping them break a curse is related to Sora in any way," he added as he faced Roxas, irritation building up inside his chest.

"I know," Roxas said, all traces of teasing gone. "But believe me – this has more in common with Sora than you think. His disappearance and the person who laid that curse on Tsubasa…there's definitely a connection."

"Oh, really?"

"Who's this Sora you keep mentioning?" Syaoran asked suddenly.

"My best friend," Riku replied, his heart sinking just talking about it. "He went missing and we haven't been able to find him for days now. Whoever took him killed several of my other friends, too, and I need to find him and make him pay. And apparently, he's connected to…that." He gestured to Tsubasa then shot an annoyed glare in Roxas's direction. "Though Mister Know-It-All isn't bothering to explain any of this to either of us. Planning on doing that sometime today, Roxas?"

The blonde Nobody lowered his head – from confliction or weakness, Riku couldn't tell. "It's not something that I can explain with words," he admitted at last. "You have to see for yourself in order to understand."

"What does that mean?"

"It doesn't matter what it means," Roxas said, a fleck of impatience ingrained in his words. "You'll see soon enough. But we need to move fast – he's probably watching us right now and we can't afford to waste any more time."

Before anyone could respond to this, Roxas turned to Syaoran and continued, "Syaoran, in order for Tsubasa to wake up from his sleep, he has to be in the proximity of the caster of the curse. So we have to bring him along with us. The princesses should stay here."

"How can you ask us to do that?" Sakura demanded before Syaoran could get a word out in response. "You can't expect Syaoran to go to that horrible person alone! And the way Tsubasa is now, we could very easily lose him if you aren't careful!"

Riku was about to make a move to quiet her – triggering Roxas's temper was _never_ a smart idea – but Roxas beat him to the punch and surprised him by simply raising a hand to silence her.

"Don't worry, Sakura; he won't be alone," he reassured her. "Riku and I are going along with him – like I said, Riku has business to settle with this person, too, and someone who knows what's going on should be there. Besides, if I thought we couldn't keep Tsubasa from getting hurt, I wouldn't have ever suggested bringing him along like this. I assure you that if one person isn't going to make it back, it definitely won't be him. I guarantee it." Roxas stared at the girls pointedly. "Also, you're better off staying here and helping your other friends. They're in worse shape than I am, and I'm sure that you can guess from that statement that they're not doing well. Not to be harsh or anything, but you coming along would only slow us down, not to mention put everyone in more danger."

Sakura apparently either couldn't find a way to refute Roxas's reasoning or just decided that it would be smarter to avoid starting an argument with him, because she shut her mouth at his words. Riku had to suppress a sigh of relief that Roxas didn't let his anger break over her.

But he was also bothered by the tone in which Roxas spoke – it sounded like there really would be someone who wouldn't be coming back from this excursion. Riku hoped that he was just overanalyzing things and making something out of nothing.

Before Riku could think more on this, Roxas turned back to the both of them. "Just letting you know – we're very likely to have a fight on our hands," he warned. "We'd best be prepared. Better safe than sorry."

"Right," Riku said immediately. Syaoran simply nodded.

"Oh, right; that reminds me…" Roxas stepped forward toward Syaoran and held out a hand, upon which a sheathed katana appeared in a flash of light. He handed it to the boy. "Here. You'll probably need this."

Syaoran's amber eyes widened. "Hien!" he gasped. He looked to Roxas in incredulity. "How did you…?"

The young Nobody managed another half-hearted grin. "I picked this up earlier before coming to see you. I figured that I should probably take some…precautionary measures. In case of an emergency."

It took a moment for Syaoran to collect himself enough to take the blade off Roxas's hands, murmuring thanks. He then turned to the two girls and said, "Sakura, you and the princess should go inside and tend to Fai and Kurogane. Mokona should already be there waiting for you."

After a brief moment of hesitation, Sakura nodded slowly. "R-right." She caught Syaoran up in a quick embrace, pulled back, and then said, "Please, be careful. And good luck!"

The boy nodded. "Don't worry, Sakura. I'll be fine. Roxas and Riku will make sure of that, I promise."

As Syaoran moved to lift Tsubasa off the ground and take him off the other girl's hands, Riku turned to Roxas expectantly, who was gazing at him steadily. Something didn't seem quite right with his expression – it was dread. Just pure apprehension. Could he possibly be afraid of what was ahead? Roxas wasn't the type to really be afraid of anything. This was definitely not a good sign of what was to come.

"This is it, Riku," the Nobody said. "Are you ready? We're going to him. To where this person is."

_To where Sora is._ "Yeah." Riku clenched his hands into tight fists. "I'm ready. He'll definitely pay…I'll _make_ him pay for committing all those crimes."

"Glad to see that you still remember," Roxas said as he opened up the dark corridor, after which he turned to Syaoran, who was approaching them. Riku turned to him as well. The sword was strapped to a belt strap on his pants and he was piggybacking Tsubasa.

"Are you ready to go?" Roxas asked him.

"Yes," he replied immediately. "I'm ready."

"Let's go then. Follow me."

Roxas entered the corridor without pause, disappearing within its folds of shadow. Riku gestured for Syaoran to follow, and the boy walked through the portal unflinchingly. Riku himself tailed Syaoran, and there was a brief moment of complete darkness before he could make out any source of light – it looked like it was coming from a fire. Riku pushed ahead, rushing to catch up with Roxas and Syaoran.

When he emerged from the other end of the corridor, he strained to see his surroundings, but it was really dim. Both Roxas and Syaoran were on either side of him, and they too were looking around them with narrowed eyes. Riku could tell that they were indoors somewhere – the floor was perfectly smooth and rock-hard beneath the soles of his shoes, and the air was absolutely still. The only sources of light were two tall lampposts a ways away from where the three were standing, spaced apart at about twelve feet, in which a bright yellow flame shivered and flickered about.

But the most notable feature of the place was not the imposing darkness, nor was the ghostly shadows cast by the flames. It was a huge mirror, situated between the lampposts. It was easily ten feet tall – large, circular, and stained with flecks of blood on its glass surface, which Riku could see even from this distance.

Riku was already getting a bad vibe from this place, but even worse than that was…

"There's no one here," Syaoran noted nervously, finishing his thoughts aloud.

Yes, the room _did_ seem empty, but Riku knew by Seeking that someone was here with them, albeit out of sight. The presence was so malevolent and vicious it almost made him feel nauseous. He tried to ignore it.

"This place…" Syaoran's voice quavered. "I – I know this place…"

Riku whipped his head around to face him in curiosity. "You've been here before?"

Syaoran didn't seem to want to answer, and Riku wondered at his sudden trepidation. He was about to ask what was ailing him when all of a sudden the light from the lamps suddenly flared brighter so that it just barely illuminated the entire room. Riku had to shield his eyes to avoid getting blinded by the spontaneous burst of light.

"What just –" he started to say, before he got interrupted by someone else's voice, which echoed throughout the chamber: "Well, it sounds like I have some unexpected guests! Is this a last-minute party, by any chance?"

Riku saw Syaoran's arms tense when he heard the voice. "It's him," he growled.

"You're sure?" Riku asked sharply. "This is definitely who we're looking for?"

Syaoran nodded, his amber eyes flashing in anger. "I'd never forget that voice. Never."

Riku could understand why. There was something very unsettling about this voice…and it bothered him immensely. He shook that feeling away and tried to focus. He couldn't afford to become unnerved now.

"Hey!" Riku shouted into the empty room. "Whoever you are, I know you're in here! Come out and face us, you lowlife bastard! I'll make you pay for taking my friends away from me!"

"Oh, hey; I'd know that voice anywhere!" the unidentified voice said teasingly. "It's Riku, isn't it? Man, it's been _ages_ since I messed with you last. How're you holding up? Getting over your whole 'dead-friends' thing okay?"

Riku gritted his teeth and tried to hold in his rage. He just couldn't believe how _callous_ this mysterious enemy of his was. He no longer held any qualms about ending this monster's life after hearing that.

"Goddamn it; show yourself!" Riku roared. "Quit hiding, you coward!"

"Now that's not very nice of you to say, Riku," the voice scolded him. "You can't just go around insulting people like there's no tomorrow. It's rude!"

"You're not in any position to question my manners, you snake! Just show yourself so we can end this!"

"Huffy, huffy. Seems like there's no quieting you." The voice then dropped all pleasantries and his next words were sharp and cold. "If that's how it's going to be, then I guess I can pull a few strings and start this early. Won't make much of a difference, anyway."

Abruptly a tear in space ripped open right in front of him, and Riku saw someone emerge from it. The person was cloaked in black, just like the members of the former Organization XIII, and was holding a sword almost as big as he was. It wasn't what he expected to see, however – he'd envisioned someone…taller, and generally more intimidating in appearance. But Riku knew from experience that such things were deceiving. He braced himself for the worst and brought forth Way to the Dawn, falling into a defensive stance.

"Who are you?" he asked harshly.

The figure didn't answer, and instead he moved his free hand and tore off the cloak, revealing his face at last. Riku just about had a coronary.

"Oh, God…" he choked. "Sora?!"

* * *

…_You totally saw that coming, didn't you. XD_


	10. Deceiving

_Let's go from the totally-not-surprising reveal from last chapter and answer some of the questions you're likely to have! Enjoy chapter 9! Oh, and happy late birthday, Justice333! :D_

**Ch. 9: Deceiving**

Syaoran was glad that his fingers were locked in position, because he would've dropped Tsubasa on accident. And that would have been bad.

He looked between Riku and his supposedly kidnapped friend, unable to get rid of the horrified expression that he could feel so plainly on his face. So this boy, the one who had delighted in his friends' suffering and murdered countless innocents he couldn't even begin to imagine, was the lost friend that Riku had been looking for? The person standing before them this very moment? It didn't make any sense! Why had he done all this? When did he get his hands on Fei Wong's sword, anyway? And just what was he trying to actually accomplish out of all the carnage he'd caused? This Sora person didn't seem like anyone Riku would call a friend, though Syaoran himself couldn't properly judge that about him.

However, Riku didn't seem to understand what was going on, either. His expression flitted from shock to rage after his momentary silence as he whipped his head around to face Roxas, who was looking solemn.

"What the hell is going on, Roxas?!" he snapped, his eyes flickering dangerously. "I want an explanation. _Now_!"

"I said that I'd bring you to the one who caused all the chaos in the worlds," Roxas said, voice inflectionless. "And I said that I knew where Sora was and that there was a connection between his disappearance and all these incidents. I never said that Sora wasn't the one doing all this."

"You were holding back information!"

"I had to."

"How does that –"

"Look, Riku; I only did it to make you agree to kill him!" Roxas retorted quickly, overriding Riku's protest. "We can't let this go on! I know he's your friend, and he's my other self…but we have to do it. It's the only way."

Riku fell silent at Roxas's words. There was an unbearable amount of pain in it that even Syaoran could detect. The way his words had shaken – it was clear that Roxas didn't want this any more than Riku did. They just had no choice.

"Roxas…" Riku sounded flustered. "Don't you realize what this means? If I kill him, you'll…"

Roxas scoffed bitterly. A flat "Who cares," was his only response.

There was suddenly a high, cold laugh that cut through the brief yet heavy silence. Syaoran faced forward to see Sora laughing, doubled over and clutching his stomach with his free hand.

"Man, I forgot how melodramatic you guys can be!" He straightened up, still grinning. His blue eyes were ice-cold. "I didn't think you'd lose your cool _this_ fast, Riku. You lost it pretty quick."

"You're one to talk," Roxas muttered.

Sora didn't even bat an eye at those words. "Ah, put a cork in it, Roxas. Or should I say, Mister _Snitch_." He spat that word like a curse, flashing a malicious glare in his direction. "I knew I should've killed you back then. Sheesh, talk about a party pooper. You just _had_ to spill the beans on everything before the main event. Now it won't be as fun!"

Roxas didn't reply, merely gritting his teeth at those words. Syaoran himself bristled with rage after hearing that accursed word again. _Fun?_ How could he even talk like that?

Riku however skipped the reaction and went straight for the demands. "Explain yourself, Sora!" he ordered the brunette. "Why are you doing all this?! How could you hurt all these innocent people?! And all your other friends –"

"Oh, you mean Kairi and Lea and everyone else?" Sora rubbed his chin as if he were in deep thought. "You're wondering why I killed them, right?"

Riku looked downright sickened. "How can you say something like that so casually?!"

"What, you want me to weep over their deaths or something? I'm only telling it like it is. Why are you telling me to mourn people that I killed on purpose, anyway?" Sora sighed in annoyance. "Fine, you want a reason? I'll give you one: I wanted payback."

That seemed to pull Riku up short. "…What?"

"Do I have to repeat myself a thousand times before it gets through that thick skull of yours? _I. Wanted. Payback._"

"You're crazy! What payback?! Kairi and Lea did nothing to you! They'd never do anything to you!"

Sora spread out his arms. "Well, maybe not," he allowed. "They didn't do anything to me directly, I suppose. But I don't care about that. What I care about…" His voice immediately became full of scathing, so abruptly that it shocked Syaoran. "…is the fact that they're the ones that made my life a living hell!"

Syaoran had no idea who those people that Riku had named were, but it was obvious through their exchange that they'd been pretty important people to both Riku and Sora.

"Wait…what are you talking about?" Riku asked now, sounding somewhat disturbed.

"Tch, like I need to answer that." Sora turned around without warning and took several steps away from them. "You _know _what I mean, Riku; I know you do! You just don't want to accept it!" he accused him harshly, whirling around to face him again, his expression one of absolute hatred. He looked even more deranged in the torchlight. "All Kairi ever did was get herself kidnapped at every given opportunity! And I had to waste all that time that I could've used saving this crap-sack universe in order to rescue her! And you know what? Axel was one of those times! He kidnapped her, and he just made my life ten times harder than it already was! And why did he do it? So he could turn me into a Heartless again and have his precious Roxas back!" He shot a spiteful glare in Roxas's direction. "Every time he's helped me, it's only because I'm his friend's complete being! You _know_ all that, Riku!"

Riku tottered backward, looking as if he'd been shot. His face was pale and slack. "No…no, Sora; you're wrong –"

"The hell I'm wrong!" Sora snarled. "And you, Riku – you're the worst. _You_ started all this. You unlocked the Keyhole to our world, let the darkness consume it! All for what – to leave the world we probably would have left anyway just a bit earlier? You let yourself be taken by the darkness, and you almost got all the worlds destroyed when it didn't have to be! It was all because of you! You dumped all the responsibilities that were supposed to be yours on me, and _I_ had to clean up your mess! I don't even _want_ to think about everything that happened after that! This world…no, this entire universe just decided that it liked making my life as much as a living hell as possible!" His voice grew wheezy from overexertion. "That's why I didn't go after you. I wanted you to feel this; I wanted you to feel all of the agony I had to deal with my entire life! And you know something? All I'm doing is returning the favor. I'm giving back everything this universe gave me. What's wrong with that?"

Although Syaoran couldn't comprehend over half of what had just been said, that didn't mean he wasn't frozen in shock. He almost forgot the reason that they'd come here in the first place. His arms began to shake with the effort of holding up Tsubasa without letting him fall, and the current situation wasn't helping matters much, either.

"Fine…fine; I'll admit that," Riku confessed resignedly. "Everything that you had to endure was because of my impatience. And I know apologizing won't fix anything, but still, I'm sorry." But then he gave his old friend a harsh look. "But you're going about this the wrong way. Why did you involve Syaoran in your bout of vengeance, anyway? He's got nothing to do with you or me."

Sora scoffed at this, like he found Riku's statement ridiculous. "I'd think that you would have figured that one out already, Riku. That's _exactly_ the reason I involved him."

The breath was knocked out of Syaoran when he heard those words. His legs suddenly felt like they were overcooked noodles, and he probably would've fallen backward along with Tsubasa if it hadn't been for Roxas's intervention. The blonde steadied him and helped him regain his balance.

"Careful," Roxas mumbled into his ear. "You'll hurt both yourself and Tsubasa."

"R-right. Sorry. Thank you."

Roxas narrowed his eyes in Riku's direction. "Don't thank me just yet."

Syaoran too turned his eyes to Riku. He looked just as blown away as Syaoran had felt.

"You're joking," he was saying, backing away a couple steps. "You've _got_ to be joking."

"Nope, not joking," Sora said lightly, his mood instantly doing a one-eighty. "Just be glad I didn't kill anybody on his end."

"Why didn't you?" Syaoran suddenly found himself asking, much to the surprise of everyone present including himself. Sora just seemed to realize that Syaoran was there.

"Oh, so you tagged along for the ride, too, huh?" He flashed an irritated look at Roxas behind him. "Geez, Roxas; how many people did you give spoilers away to?"

Roxas ignored Sora's query. "Syaoran asked you a question," he said simply, his voice hard.

"Ha! Like I'd tell him something as juicy as that? No way."

"Quit messing around, Sora!" Riku barked angrily, losing his patience once more. "Tell him the truth!"

Sora scratched his spiky brown hair in exasperation. "Geez, what are you expecting from me? Some big, grand, unnecessarily complicated exposition of my master plan? I was just bored, okay? Sheesh."

Syaoran's mind felt numb. The heat from Tsubasa's death seal burned through his back over where his heart was. His voice came out as a whisper. "You're saying that you cursed him with this death seal…just because you had nothing better to do?"

Sora shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, yeah. Pretty much. I mean, I had to occupy myself somehow in between me taking revenge on the universe, you know?"

"Y-you…how could…" Syaoran felt dizzy. He found himself bearing most of his weight onto Roxas in an effort to stay upright.

"Hey, Syaoran," Roxas said urgently. "Pull it together!"

"Oh, and it's actually not a death seal," Sora went on, oblivious to Syaoran's faintness. "It doesn't kill anyone. It just keeps your little Tsubasa out of commission until it's removed. And the smaller that seal gets, the closer he is to being a human vegetable, in all respects. So in a way, it's _worse_ than actually dying." He waved it off. "Eh, it doesn't matter. But I can guess the reason _you're_ here, Syaoran – to get rid of that seal, right? If you're gonna do that" – he pointed at himself – "you're gonna have to kill me."

_So_ _Roxas was right…I have to kill him to save Tsubasa._ Syaoran looked to Riku, who was now glowering at his former friend in disgust. _But he's Riku's friend…it's…it's not right. And what if…what if he's lying to me?_

He had no trouble believing this. Sora had messed with them time and again. It wouldn't surprise Syaoran if all Sora had said turned out to be a farce.

"So, Syao," Sora goaded teasingly, spreading his arms out again, as if he was trying to make himself a bigger target, "think you're up to it? If so, then go ahead and try. I wonder if you'll succeed."

Syaoran couldn't muster up any response to this. Fortunately, Riku took care of that for him.

"Sora…this isn't you," he said. "This isn't you; it's a monster! The Sora I know would never do this! Stop what you're doing now, before you're gone completely! I know that some part of you is fighting this, and I'm not just going to stand by idly and watch my friend hurt anyone else!"

For the very first time since Syaoran had encountered him, Sora looked genuinely surprised at Riku's pleads. He lowered his arms, locked his eyes on his friend, and stayed that way for a moment or two without moving or speaking. Then – without any warning – he burst out laughing so hard he doubled over in trying to catch his breath again.

"That's a good one!" Sora chortled, bracing himself on the huge sword like a cane so that he wouldn't fall over in his fit of laughter. "To be honest I wasn't expecting that to come up at all! You got me there; you got me! Oh God; I can't breathe!"

Riku hissed like he'd been scalded. "What did you just say?"

"Still trapped in that little fantasy world of yours, are we, Riku?" Sora taunted him, laughter still plain in his tone. "Well, I _hate_ to be the one to break it to you, but let me lay this on you straight."

Sora strode forward, sword in hand, until he was three feet from him. Then he raised his eyes and stared unflinchingly into Riku's for several seconds. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, but Riku's eyes widened in what Syaoran assumed to be undiluted horror at some realization.

"No," he breathed, his voice panicky. "No way. There's no way."

"You see now, Riku?" Sora murmured, his voice almost hypnotic, drawing closer until he was practically caressing Riku's chin. "The Sora you're talking to? It's definitely the one you know. No one's fighting anything here."

At those words Riku's will seemed to crumble. He took several shaking steps back, away from Sora. "Oh my God…this can't be happening…"

Sora chuckled in amusement at his friend's reaction. "In denial to the bitter end, huh? Even when the truth is staring you in the face…I feel sorry for you, Riku."

"Stop talking like that!"

Everyone save Riku started at that exclamation. It was Syaoran who had spoken those words. His resentment at Sora that he'd kept bottled in overflowed, and he was far from done.

"How could you do that to Riku?" Syaoran felt his arm muscles lock in his tension. "How can you go and say something like that to him? Didn't you listen to the words coming out of your own mouth? You keep taunting him, berating him, and messing with him, and he's your best friend! That's what he is, isn't he? How can you be so cruel to the person who had called you his friend? How could you hurt him like that?!" He heard his own voice break with emotion, which surprised him slightly, but Sora's actions disgusted him so much that he couldn't care less.

"Please," Sora said, lolling his head casually in order to look at him. "Speak for yourself, Syaoran. I'm not the only one who's gone around messing with his so-called _friends_ and innocent people in other worlds alike. You've got no place telling _me_ off."

Syaoran winced as that hit a nerve. He wasn't sure how Sora knew, but that didn't matter – as must as he hated to admit it, Sora's words were true in a sense. He _had_ caused lots of pain to innocent people. He'd hurt and betrayed his friends, who had protected him for so long. But there was one glaring difference between him and Sora that rendered this comparison completely useless.

"Maybe so," Syaoran said, trying to keep his voice even. "But I'm nothing like you. Unlike me, you had a choice in your actions. You were free to make your own decisions and do as you liked. But the direction you've taken this freedom is wrong! When did revenge satisfy anyone? All you're doing is causing even more of the very same pain that you felt!"

He suddenly felt Tsubasa's body twitch a little in his grip and the heat burning his back intensify slightly, which meant that Tsubasa would very soon again become subject to the tortures that the seal wrought on its afflicted. Syaoran was running out of time.

"Let me take him off your hands," he heard Roxas say unexpectedly. Syaoran turned to Roxas behind him. His blue eyes, unsettlingly identical to that of Sora's, were filled to the brim with empathy, though Syaoran couldn't understand why. However, seeing the young blonde's face reminded him of something he'd said earlier.

"Roxas…you mentioned before that you're Sora's other self," he ventured hesitantly. "Is…was that true? If we kill Sora, will you really…?"

Roxas didn't answer him for a moment, only smiling slightly. "That's not important," he said at last. "You need to focus on saving your own other self."

"But…"

"I'm not having any of your sympathy, Syaoran," Roxas cut him off. "It's not like I deserve it. And besides, this isn't my fight. I've got no right interfering in someone else's business."

Roxas moved to take Tsubasa off his back and into his own arms, relieving Syaoran of the extra weight. It amazed him that Roxas could hold another person as easily as if he was a child while barely being able to hold _himself_ up. The thanks got stuck somewhere in Syaoran's throat, but Roxas simply nodded before taking Tsubasa some distance away from the three of them.

His hands finally free, Syaoran grasped the handle of his sword and unsheathed it, the sound of sliding metal unnaturally loud in the dark room. His arms were trembling a little as if trying to shake off the effort it had taken him from having to hold Tsubasa for so long, but he ignored it. Hien's blade glinted in the dim firelight as he held it in position. He looked over to where Riku was still standing, and saw that his face still pale with shock.

Syaoran knew that he couldn't leave him like that. He was practically a sitting duck in Sora's way. "Riku!" he called out.

Riku flinched and looked to him, staring at Syaoran blankly. He looked as if he could barely recognize him.

"Syaoran?" he inquired uncertainly, his voice unsteady. "What…"

"You have to get your act together," Syaoran urged him. "You won't get anything done that way!"

"I'm getting bored," Sora cut in with an irritated voice without missing a beat, causing the two of them to turn their attention back to him. "How long are you going to just stand around and talk? Do I always have to be the one to make things interesting?"

Syaoran's fingers tightened around the hilt of his weapon, eyeing Sora warily. _I was hoping to avoid a fight…but I've got no choice now._ He braced himself, his muscles tightly wound like a spring.

Even in the shadows Syaoran could see Sora rolling his eyes. "All right; fine then. If that's how it's gonna be, I might as well make it good."

Sora then stared straight into Syaoran's eyes, those icy blue orbs locking onto his amber. At that moment, for a passing split second Syaoran felt an intensely sharp pain in his chest like his heart was swelling to twice its size.

Then the world went black.

* * *

_NO THAT WAS NOT A YAOI MOMENT WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU I HATE THEM SHUT UP._

_Ahem._

_Man, only half of this was drafted in actuality; the rest I built around what I had. And this was bar none the toughest chapter of TOSOY for me to write so far. I would've gotten this out sooner, but...ugh. _

_And sorry, no fight scene today. Maybe next time. This was an exposition chapter, more or less…got your questions answered, right? I addressed practically every question I could think of in this chapter…then again, maybe not. :P Was there something I missed, or did I just raise more questions? Uh…yeah. Let me know in your reviews; if you decide to review, anyway…man, I need more than four reviewers. Most of the feedback is coming from one person. I feel like a freeloader…_

_Know what; never mind. Forget I said anything. ^^;_

_Anyway, hope this chapter was satisfactory, and see you chapter 10._


	11. Null

_For those of you who are following this story, I owe you all an apology for such a late update. I'll be honest here – I am absolutely _sick_ of chapter 9. I really am. Don't get me wrong; I really like how it turned out. I just spent so much of my time reading it over and over and OVER again trying to make it all make sense and not corny that by the end of it all I cringed even looking at the words "chapter 9". *sigh* So, sorry that this chapter came a little slow. I had to for lack of a better term "un-sensitize" myself to this fic. (Plus my computer was being a jerk. I've had this Dell computer since I was in 6__th__ grade and the age is starting to show.) I'm trying to get as much out as I can while I still have time (college for me starts February 25th) so needless to say I've been looking at this fic a lot for the past month._

_Ah well, enough about me. Enjoy chapter 10, and thanks for being super patient. You guys are awesome._

**Ch. 10: Null**

There's nothing like learning that your missing friend turned out to be the mass murderer behind everything to completely ruin your day.

The precise second when Sora had finished spilling everything, Riku's mind had jammed. His thoughts wouldn't process, and his entire consciousness felt as if it were stuck in a state of perpetual limbo. He couldn't accept what was happening; nothing would register in his mind. The shock had struck him completely dumb.

At some point a faraway voice called out, "Riku!" and finally snapped him out of it. He blinked a couple times, and looked to Syaoran, the source of the cry. The boy wasn't holding his twin anymore, and Roxas was no longer in sight. Syaoran had also drawn that katana from its sheath, a four-foot blade in all of its wicked sharpness. He was eyeing Riku in urging, though he couldn't understand why.

"Syaoran?" His voice sounded hollow, even to him. "What…"

Syaoran's amber eyes glinted with firmness. "You have to get your act together. You won't get anything done that way!"

Riku's mind scrambled to reorganize itself in order to assess the current situation. Syaoran looked ready for a fight, now that Tsubasa was off his hands. Riku still couldn't see Roxas anywhere – or Tsubasa either, for that matter. Maybe Roxas was just hiding him in the shadows and out of sight until it was over?

Ugh, just thinking about what the outcome to this might be made him feel sick all over again.

"I'm getting bored," Sora interrupted, his tone turning all shades of bland. "How long are you going to just stand around and talk? Do I always have to be the one to make things interesting?"

Both Riku and Syaoran looked to him, former in helplessness and latter in fury. Sora's expression was mildly pleasant and carefree, like he was in the middle of watching two puppies tussling around playfully. Riku saw Syaoran's fingers around the handle of the sword tighten in anticipation of whatever Sora might throw at them. When Riku saw his expression, he saw that Syaoran was willing to go to any length to free Tsubasa from his curse, even if it meant doing as Sora was egging him on to do and taking his life. Riku remembered back when he had once possessed that same resolve into saving his best friend from endless sleep multiple times, even if it had meant that he would have to live or lose himself in the darkness forever as a result. But now… he couldn't find that determination, right when it mattered most. He was spending too much of that energy staying angry at himself.

Riku felt his gaze tighten. _Sora… _he thought helplessly.

His old friend gave a very put-upon roll of the eyes. "All right; fine then," he said at last. "If that's how it's gonna be, I might as well make it good."

Sora then flicked his gaze toward Syaoran and locked eyes with him for a split second. At first, nothing happened, and Riku began wondering if Sora had just been playing with his words – at least until Syaoran let out a garbled gasp of pain. That brief window was all the opportunity Sora needed to rush him and deliver a roundhouse kick to Syaoran's head, sending him flying backward and landing on the hard floor with a sickening _thud_. To Riku's horror, Syaoran didn't move.

"Syaoran!" he cried once out of desperation, but there was no reply. Seeing his comrade out of commission fueled his rage toward the sick monster that he'd once called friend. He roared in fury and charged at Sora, Keyblade in hand. He was easily blocked and parried, but Riku wasn't about to let someone he barely knew get hurt on his account. He stood between the unconscious Syaoran and Sora, who had been advancing on him, and held him at sword point.

"Don't you dare lay another finger on him," Riku snarled. "You've got no right messing with him!"

Sora stared amusedly at the Keyblade Riku was holding to his throat. "I almost forgot what one of these things looked like," he mused with a mocking smile. "Sure brings back memories of the good old days, doesn't it, Riku?"

"Yeah, and it makes me sick just thinking about it!" Riku spat. "Looking at you now, those memories make no sense to me at all!"

"Ooh, don't be like that, old buddy," Sora said, pretending to wince in pain. "What happened to being best friends, huh?"

"I'd rather get possessed by Ansem five times over than call you my best friend now!"

Sora whistled through his teeth. "Whew. That's cold, Riku."

"Even if that's the case, I'm a raging inferno compared to you!" Riku snapped at him. "At least I'm not a backstabber who slaughters people who called him a friend because of petty revenge! I never thought that you of all people would stoop so low!"

Sora suddenly grinned wickedly, like Riku had brought up an interesting topic, and chuckled once. "Speaking of backstabbers…"

There almost wasn't enough time to react. The tone of Sora's voice alerted him almost simultaneously with Roxas's shouts of warning out of nowhere, and Riku barely managed to avoid the blade that had made as if to pierce his heart from behind by leaping away from where he stood to a spot several yards away. Once he was safe from danger at the immediate moment, he was able to focus on what had just happened – only to see Syaoran's sword in the empty space where his chest had been.

Riku was almost too stunned for words. "Wh-what the…" He proceeded to stare at the boy who'd turned his weapon against him, already facing him with his sword poised for another strike. "Syaoran?!"

There was definitely something different about him this time around. The expression on Syaoran's face disturbed Riku more than the fact that he'd almost killed him. It was frighteningly cold – much like Sora's had been, except there was no other emotion. It was as if any and all sense of self and feeling had been severed from his mind and heart. Simply looking at those dead eyes made Riku shiver, like the temperature of the dark room had suddenly dropped twenty degrees. One of his eyes – the right one – was completely hollow and flat in color and devoid of any shine. Riku had no idea what that could be signifying, but that wasn't his biggest worry.

Sora groaned in frustration and shook his head in dismay as he placed his free hand on his hip, like he'd suddenly lost a game that he was previously winning. "Dang it!" he complained. "It was so close!"

"What did – are _you_ the one that made him like this?!" Riku demanded in outrage. "What did you do to him, Sora?!"

"Geez, quit yelling, Riku." Sora picked his left ear with his little finger. "Look, I didn't do anything to him – well, not _directly_ at least. That side of Syaoran was always there – it's usually buried deep, but still there."

"And you expect me to believe that?" Riku countered harshly, sarcasm thick in his tone. "I'm not an idiot."

Sora's eyes hardened the tiniest bit. "Oh, so you don't believe me, huh? Fine. Just ask my know-it-all Nobody. He knows that it's the truth. Don't you, Roxas?" he added scathingly to the blonde, who had suddenly appeared in the back corner of the room.

Riku's heart sunk like a stone in water. He looked upon Roxas's face in dread, his heart sinking even further by the agonized expression upon it. A shadow had seemed to cross Roxas's face – Riku couldn't tell if it was from the flickering light of the lamps or the prospect of having to explain this to him.

"Roxas…it's a lie, right?" he pleaded. "It's got to be a lie! Syaoran couldn't have…!"

The Nobody refused to make eye contact with him. Instead, he opted on focusing his gaze on the still-incarcerated Tsubasa, who looked even paler than before. He looked like a marble statue in the firelight.

It was a long while before Roxas answered him. "No," he said reluctantly, drawing in a deep breath. "It's not a lie. Sora's telling the truth."

"What does that –" Riku couldn't finish the question, because Syaoran had lunged for him again. He leapt at Riku's throat, the sword in his hand positioned to strike the jugular, but Riku immediately countered and sidestepped. He could have taken that moment to strike back, but he'd been hesitant. The Keyblade wasn't any ordinary weapon. He could accidentally hurt Syaoran permanently if he wasn't careful. Not to mention, Riku just barely knew him well enough to feel guilty about doing anything to hurt him long-term. It would weigh on his conscience heavily – and probably for a long time, too; given how he'd handled these kinds of situations in the past, he didn't doubt it.

He swiftly turned as Syaoran leapt at him for the third time, but this time Riku was a moment too late. The boy's weapon grazed Riku's abdomen – the wound wasn't deep, but it still hurt pretty badly. Then out of nowhere – Syaoran delivered a karate kick straight to the gut, right where he'd made the cut. The air whooshed out of Riku's lungs like an accordion and he flew back a good ten feet before landing on the rock-hard floor like a sack of potatoes, probably earning him some nasty bruises.

"Whoa, awesome shot!" Sora cheered from somewhere to his left like he was watching a boxing match. "Kick him in the chest next!"

_Goddamn it, Sora…! _Before Riku could get up, Syaoran was on him again in an instant. Riku could see the dead expression still etched into Syaoran's face as he proceeded to stomp Riku's chest with his boot, forcing a cough and a scream of pain out of him.

"Riku!" he heard Roxas cry out in panic.

Riku felt blood splash onto his cheeks and neck, and he both heard and felt one of his ribs break. Pain seared through his abdomen like fire. Something told him that Syaoran hadn't lifted his foot off of his ribcage. His mind was going numb from the pain, and it hurt so much to breathe that he almost suffocated from the agony.

Even with all that aside, some part of him was absolutely daunted at how much raw strength this kid possessed – even after learning that he wasn't really human. From what he'd observed of Syaoran up until now, it seemed like this strength was actually kept at bay on purpose, probably to seem as normal and safe to be around as possible. Seeing Syaoran like this now only worsened this realization.

Riku barely noticed when Syaoran finally unpinned him from the ground, but he couldn't miss the fact that he was lifted from his position on the floor by the collar and then slammed into the nearest wall with the force akin to that of being attached to a battering ram, leaving him pinned against it. The resulting pain almost made Riku black out, but he managed to hang on by the skin of his teeth. Not only was Syaoran pinning him to the wall a foot off the ground, but he was choking him at the same time – and Riku had neither the means nor the strength to escape from his iron grip. He couldn't even muster the energy to lift his legs to kick him away. He had to fight to stay conscious by this point.

Riku suddenly felt something cold and sharp brush underneath his chin – Syaoran was now holding his sword at Riku's throat. So not only was his ally brainwashed into becoming a mindless killing machine, not only was he beaten up with an inch of his life by said ally, but he was now just seconds away from actually dying here, in this strange place no one knew existed, knowing that he'd failed to save his friend. He could still hear Sora cheering Syaoran on from somewhere in the background and constantly reminding him, "Be careful not to kill him yet!" through his dizziness. That bastard. Man, this was a really, really lame way to go.

He fought to open his eyes, and he was met with Syaoran's soulless stare. The touch of cold metal on his neck intensified, and Riku knew it was only a matter of time before it would slice open his jugular. Since he had no other way out of this situation that he could see, he fell back on what was normally his first-resort (reversed now because he hadn't seen this coming) method when facing down enemies – he tried talking Syaoran down.

"Syaoran." Riku's voice sounded like a dying badger, but he ignored that and pressed on. "Syaoran, it's me; it's Riku! Listen to me – you have to stop what you're doing! This isn't who you are. This is inhuman!"

Nothing in Syaoran's countenance changed as far as he could see, and Riku wondered if he could even hear his voice in the state he was in. That possibility almost urged him to give up in despair. Riku quickly chased those thoughts away – he had to keep trying, or this wouldn't end well for any of them.

"Can't you remember why you decided to come here in the first place?" It _seriously_ hurt to talk, but Riku wouldn't allow himself to give in to the pain. He couldn't afford that. Too much was at stake. "You came here to save Tsubasa! If you don't, then you and Sakura will both disappear, right? Isn't Sakura your important person? You can't let that happen! Get your act together, Syaoran! You have to!"

Not even that seemed to do the trick. Syaoran's eyes hardened all the more and Riku could feel the muscles in his arms tighten in preparation to slit open his throat – even though Sora had specifically ordered him not to. Well, that was just his luck. His usually-first-but-now-last-resort method into snapping Syaoran back to his sense had failed miserably, and Riku knew in his gut that Roxas didn't have the strength to help him out of this one or else he would've stepped in ages ago.

Even worse, Sora now possessed the audacity to point out his epic failure and rub it in his bloodied face. "Wow, Riku. You know, after everything I've ever seen you do, I'd expected this fight to be more…oh, I don't know – _even_? Syaoran knocked you fifty ways to Sunday without even trying! You've gotten pretty rusty. What could have happened to you? Oh wait; don't tell me" – Sora jabbed a finger in his direction – "it looks like you've softened up over all these years, huh? Am I wrong? I mean, you didn't even try to attack him _once_ through the whole thing!"

Anger flared up in Riku's chest once more at Sora's callous attitude. "I won't hurt him for doing something he wouldn't want to do!" he managed to growl as the blade against his neck pressed even closer. "Not that you would understand, the way you are now."

Sora's eyes tightened visibly in the dim shadows. Syaoran suddenly lifted Riku away from the wall and proceeded to throw him down to the ground – hard. He bounced once and slid the rest of the way back to the interior area of the room, where Sora was standing.

"Oh, so you're trying to rationalize now?" he assumed darkly, looming over Riku. "Since when did that help you?"

"It never helped me with anything!" Riku's chest was really close to killing him through the pain it was doling out to him alone from talking, but Riku was just so mad at his old friend that he ignored it. He struggled to push himself up, and he glared at Sora venomously the whole time. "And it never helped anyone! All it is is somebody trying to justify and get away with an excuse to every sick and twisted thing that they do, trying to figure out something that they don't and shouldn't understand, and thinking that no one knows what's going through their heads when that's all a pack of lies! Rationalizing is just an underhanded way for people to get everyone else to forgive them of everything, and to put them in the right and everyone else in the wrong! That's what you're doing, and look where it got you! It didn't get rid of any of the darkness in you – it only added more, and you're still not happy because of that no matter how many people you torture or kill! So there's no chance of me trying this thing you call 'rationalizing'. I'm telling you all this as the up-front truth. This _isn't_ Syaoran's doing, and I'm not about to let him get hurt for it, because it's wrong!"

Something about those words suddenly changed the feel of the atmosphere around them. Sora looked to be at a loss for words, and his face flitted between anger and bewilderment like he couldn't decide between the two emotions battling for dominance in his mind. Riku was in so much pain now that he couldn't feel anything – his entire body had gone numb.

"You…" Sora backed off and away from Riku, his eyes flashing with fury. "Where do you get off –"

"Riku!"

Both of them turned to the source of the voice, and relief washed through Riku strongly when he saw that Syaoran had finally come back to his senses. He almost didn't notice the look of pure horror upon Syaoran's face once he saw the state that Riku was in. He ran to Riku's side and tried to help him up. Syaoran actually looked pretty close to crying, which was kind of unexpected. "Oh my God…" he whimpered. "Oh my God…"

"Welcome back." Riku didn't know where he found the energy to say anything after that massive unloading he dished out on Sora, but that didn't matter. He was just glad that he wouldn't be breaking bones anymore.

Syaoran, however, ignored Riku's greeting, his voice saturated in guilt. "I – I did this to you, didn't I? It was me? Oh, God – I'm – I'm so sorry, Riku; I didn't mean to –" He broke off, unable to continue.

_So he doesn't remember what he did?_ Riku mused. _Well, I guess it's better that way._

Suddenly, everything else froze as the unmistakable sound of a blade slicing through flesh hit his ears.

* * *

_And you got a fight today! Hooray! Riku got totally pwned, though. Gosh, I just realized how mean I am to him. Sora even hung a lampshade on how pathetic he was. (Hooray Tropese! *shot*) Whew…well, anyway, it was necessary for the plot. Moving on._

_This was definitely easier to write than…CHAPTER 9. *DUN DUN DUUUUUN* Again, sorry for the late update. And another apology in advance for the next chapter being on hold as well – I do have a oneshot to work on, after all!_

_Bye for now; I'll (eventually) see you chapter 11! You will forever be in agony at not knowing who just got mortally wounded! Mwahahahaha! *evilface* But seriously, it shouldn't be too hard to guess…right? XD_


	12. Promises

_Long time no see readers! :D Sorry I was away from this for so long! Like I said, I had to work on a oneshot. *ahem* And I'm going to be working on another one after this chapter. But don't you worry; this time I'll be switching between the two, so you'll get a faster update than this one. I'm just trying to get as much out as possible before classes start next week (after which updates will be _much _slower), so please bear with me._

_But enough of me rambling! Now…let's finally see who died!_

**Ch. 11: Promises**

Syaoran didn't think this situation could get any worse than it was already. He'd let himself get knocked out right off the bat. He'd been stripped of his senses and forced to beat Riku within an inch of his life. He could only imagine the horrific things he'd probably done to make Riku to look so battered now.

But no. As if fate just wanted to deny them of any reprieve, Syaoran and Riku were reduced to only being able to stare in complete horror at the blood-soaked steel protruding from Roxas's chest, its tip just barely brushing against Riku's back.

Riku made to scramble around to face him properly, but Syaoran tried to hold him back. He didn't want him to hurt himself any further. But Riku managed to turn around and sit up on his haunches regardless of his efforts, and stared in open-mouthed shock at his friend.

"_Roxas, no_!" Riku screamed once in abject terror.

Copious amounts of blood spilled from the wound and from Roxas's lips. His complexion in the light of the lamps looked even paler than Tsubasa's, which made the crimson fluid stand out like a beacon of red light amidst snow. His once-clear sapphire eyes were glazed over and dull, and his entire body seemed to glow with a pale light. His expression was one of weariness and (much to Syaoran's confusion) contentment, and Roxas's next words proved it as such.

"Riku…" His voice was strangled and hoarse. He managed the smallest of a grin and raised his head slightly to meet Riku's eyes, the light enveloping him intensifying. "I did my part, so…don't forget your promise…"

"No, no, no – please Roxas, no!" Riku begged, reaching out to him. "Don't do this!"

The blonde simply closed his eyes and lowered head once more, no longer having the energy to speak.

Sora was not touched by this scene at all. He glowered at Roxas in utter disbelief, growling in annoyance at the sight his other self fading away in front of him. "Why you…you annoying little _pest_!" He full-on yanked the giant blade out of Roxas's body, causing the bright light surrounding him to spontaneously explode and fill the entire room like a supernova, briefly blinding everyone present.

Once the light faded away, Roxas was gone. All traces of him had vanished – not even a drop of his blood remained. It had gone from the floor and the sword that had impaled him, and the old blood stains that had been on Riku's arms and vest had also vanished. It was as if Roxas had never been here, had never saved Riku from certain death. As if he'd never existed in the first place.

Syaoran didn't understand what had happened, couldn't understand it. He was so confused and lost, and once again his mind felt brittle, like it could crumble away into nothing at any moment. He could barely let this situation sink in.

Roxas was gone.

_Roxas is gone._

"No…" Riku gasped, shell-shocked. "Roxas…h-how could…"

All Syaoran could think of to do to console him was to place a hand on Riku's tattered shoulder and say, "Riku…" with no other course of action. He could barely accept what had just happened, could barely accept that Roxas was no longer with them. He could barely function right now.

This period of pause was interrupted by Sora suddenly hissing in pain. Syaoran looked up to see their adversary stagger backward and clench a fist over his heart, his face twisted in agony and fury.

"That bastard…!" he choked, his breaths coming short and fast due to his sudden weakness. "He was planning this…that son of a – urgh –" He doubled over and fell to one knee, his entire body trembling.

A jolt of shock ran down Syaoran's spine. So _this_ was why Riku had been that upset with Roxas once he discovered the identity of whom he had promised to kill. Roxas had known the risks. He'd known that he would cease to be if Riku went through with his promise, and had been willing to give up his existence if it meant stopping Sora's rampage of revenge. Riku had realized that at the point he'd gotten angry at him. There was a newfound respect for their martyr welling up in Syaoran's chest, along with a renewed sense of obligation. Roxas had gone down believing that they would succeed in their task. Syaoran knew that they couldn't go and tarnish that expectation. Not after that. He wondered if Riku was aware of this as well.

Syaoran suddenly felt Riku tense underneath his palm. Syaoran's hand slipped from Riku's shoulder as he staggered to his feet, grasping his chest and shooting a look of pure venom at his former friend. "How could you do that?" Riku demanded.

Sora was still on the ground, with his left hand clutching his heart. He raised his head enough to glower at Riku through his brown bangs, and Syaoran could see that his face was beaded with sweat. For some reason, Roxas's death seemed to have a negative consequence on his body.

"Do what?" Sora spat, though his voice sounded rather feeble.

"Don't pretend like you don't know!" Riku snapped, tightening his free hand into a fist. "How could you kill Roxas like that?! He was your Nobody, and you still slaughtered him like he was some rabid dog!"

Sora scoffed despite his sudden weakness. Syaoran saw him roll his eyes once as he did so. "It wasn't like I was trying to. He just decided to get all noble and save your life." He then mumbled, almost to himself, "Not like you deserved it."

Syaoran couldn't believe what he was hearing, and Riku echoed his thoughts. "What did you just say?!"

Sora's lips curled in annoyance. "I said," he replied, enunciating every syllable as if it were obvious. "You. Didn't. Deserve it. It was a waste of a sacrifice on his part. He just got in the way. I was only trying to put you out of the misery Syaoran put you in, Riku. I was about to do you a favor."

Syaoran also rose to his feet, his fingers tightened around the handle of Hien. It was almost impossible to believe the words coming out of Sora's mouth. If Sora had been callous before, he was sounding downright cruel now. Syaoran couldn't believe how carelessly Sora had written off the sacrifice of what Riku had called "his Nobody" as an inconvenience. He didn't know what a Nobody was, but he assumed that they were basically an extension of someone else; a being metaphysically connected to their original persona. At least, that was his best guess after gauging Sora's reaction to Roxas's death.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Riku's words were labored, no doubt from his injured chest. Syaoran felt guilty all over again. _He_ had hurt Riku's chest, after all. It was because of Syaoran that just speaking was torture in and of itself. "You were trying to put me out of my misery, and Roxas saving my life was him just _getting in the way_?" He glared at Sora in a mix of disgust and incredulity. "Just…just what exactly happened to you? I don't feel like I'm getting the whole story!"

Sora tensed for a microsecond before regaining whatever composure he had left. "That's none of your business," he said tersely.

"Right, and you didn't just stab Roxas through the chest. Of _course_ it's my business! You were my friend; I deserve to know what's going on!"

"You're not in any position to ask me questions, Riku." Sora staggered to his feet and hefted his huge weapon. "There's no point in telling you, anyway."

"Oh, really?" Riku said scathingly. "It seems like you're feeling a little on the weak side, though. Who's not in any position to do what, now?"

Sora merely growled in response, having no proper rebuttal. Through this entire exchange, Syaoran couldn't help but feel more helpless than he'd ever been in his life. He felt like a total liability – just a deadweight in the middle of this feud between former friends. He hardly knew what was going on anymore (not that he'd ever known anything in the first place) and now Roxas – his only guide and source of reassurance in the middle of all this – was no more. What could he possibly do in this situation?

All of a sudden, Syaoran felt disoriented, the world falling up and around before his eyes. He closed them tightly to try and blink this feeling away, and for a moment, Syaoran thought he had succeeded…until he opened his eyes and found himself in a huge expanse of black. His surroundings had completely disappeared; he was alone in this empty space.

He felt bewildered. _"Where am I?"_ he wondered to himself, and flinched in surprise when he realized that he was actually hearing his thoughts. _"Wh-what's going on – my thoughts are being spoken out loud!"_

A voice called out from behind him, _"Syaoran!"_

Syaoran turned around abruptly to see who it was, and was utterly shocked at the sight of the one who had called his name.

"_Tsubasa?!"_ he exclaimed in shock. _"H-how are you here?! I thought you were – but how?"_

"_I am,"_ Tsubasa said, stepping closer so that he and Syaoran were eye to eye._ "I'm not really awake. I just used the last of what magic I have left to enter your mind and speak with you."_

"_So…you're the one who brought me here?"_

"_Yes. But we can't waste any more time; we can't afford that. Not if you want to save me."_

Syaoran was instantly alert at those words. If Tsubasa somehow had the information he needed to wake him from his curse, then he couldn't afford not to listen to it. He was tired of being forced onto the sidelines without any means to help Riku. Not to mention, he didn't want Tsubasa living the rest of his days as a human vegetable, nor did he wish to face the prospect of having to take a life.

"_Okay, I'm listening,"_ Syaoran said. _"What do I need to do?"_

"_There's a way to save me without having to kill the one who cursed me,"_ Tsubasa began, his eyes firm. _"For starters…you have to separate him from that blade."_

Syaoran's thoughts immediately went to the weapon that Sora had somehow come across and taken for himself. _"That sword? I just have to disarm him?"_ he asked, confused. _"But that seems too easy. What good will that do?"_

"_You'll have to trust me on this," _Tsubasa insisted._ "I don't have the time to explain. Just don't hurt him. Focus on getting him away from the sword."_

Syaoran didn't know how that would help, but since Tsubasa was a seasoned practitioner of magic, he probably knew what he was talking about. Syaoran decided to trust his word. _"Okay,"_ he said firmly. _"I will. I won't let you down, I swear it."_

Tsubasa smiled and placed a hand on Syaoran's shoulders. _"I don't expect anything less from you."_

He removed his hand after a moment. As he did so, Tsubasa's body started to fade. Syaoran could only stare in surprise.

"_Tsubasa!"_ he cried. _"Your body is…"_

Tsubasa raised his now-transparent palm and stared at it. _"It looks like my magic is nearly gone,"_ he observed. He looked up to Syaoran, his small smile still in place. _"Our time here is over, Syaoran. I hope my advice will help you succeed."_

"_But Tsubasa…"_ Syaoran almost couldn't finish his thought. _"What will happen to you once I leave this place?"_

Tsubasa wouldn't answer, an unreadable expression inscribed on his face. He then simply said, _"I'll be counting on you, Syao. My life is in your hands now."_

That last word reverberated as an echo, and after Syaoran unwittingly blinked his eyes once more, he found himself back in the dark room with the mirror along with Riku and Sora. Neither of them gave any indication that they had noticed his sudden absence and reappearance. They hadn't even moved from their respective positions from when he had suddenly blacked out.

Syaoran had no idea when he was going to stop being confused today. Had time passed at all when he'd been pulled into his mind (quite literally, he might add)? It sure seemed that way. He quickly checked behind him, and Tsubasa was leaning against the back wall, still unconscious. Syaoran couldn't tell if he was even breathing anymore. Dread clutched at his heart. Tsubasa had said that he was using what little magic he had left to impart valuable information. And Syaoran knew for a fact that if the magical ability was completely drained from someone who used it, they came dangerously close to losing their life.

Oh no…so that meant Tsubasa could possibly…

_No, stop it!_ he commanded himself. He wouldn't be helping anyone if his thoughts went in that direction. He had to figure out how to disarm Sora, at the very least. He didn't know what would happen if he succeeded, but if Tsubasa said it could help him wake then he didn't have any excuse to not have at least tried.

The only problem was…would Riku allow it? Would he allow Syaoran to actually fight against his friend and possibly injure him? When he looked to Riku, he saw that he looked mad enough to be on the verge of actually throwing himself at Sora in spite of his condition.

"What, no response?" Riku flung those words at Sora harshly. "Do you actually still have a heart in there somewhere to feel with?"

Syaoran didn't think it was really smart of Riku to insult someone who could very easily kill at this moment if he so chose – even if it was his old best friend – clearly handicapped and completely unarmed. Even though Sora still gave no indicative response to Riku's insults, Syaoran was still worried. Who knew what was going on in that twisted mind of his right now? It was impossible to guess.

Syaoran put a hand on Riku's shoulder to keep him from leaping at Sora. "Don't move, Riku," he warned him in a low voice as he hefted his own weapon. "Let me handle this."

Riku turned to look at him, stunned. "Wait, what?"

"Leave him to me," Syaoran said, placing himself between him and Sora. "I know what I need to do now. Tsubasa just told me."

"What –" Riku looked from the still form of Tsubasa behind them to Syaoran in bewilderment. "When did – how could he –"

"I can't explain that now, because I hardly know myself. But you have to let me take care of this. It's my fault that you're in no condition to fight right now, and I don't want to be a burden to you anymore." Syaoran twisted his head around to look at Riku again, his voice pleading. "Please. You have to let me do this. Can you watch over Tsubasa for me?"

He wasn't sure what emotion his expression betrayed at that moment, but Riku seemed to understand nevertheless. "All right," Riku said at last. "I'll protect him. Just…just be careful, Syaoran. Okay?"

Syaoran nodded in gratitude. "I will. Thank you."

He then turned his attention back to Sora as Riku quickly retreated to the back of the room where Tsubasa lay. Sora seemed to have regained some of his strength, though he was hunched over with his left hand braced on his thighs, and he still looked somewhat pale. He was glaring at Syaoran in what looked like contempt.

"Seriously?" he asked in incredulity. "_You're_ going to fight me? What are you, an idiot?"

Syaoran didn't bother wasting his breath to respond to him. He silently slid into a battle stance, Hien brandished and ready. He firmly trained his eyes on his opponent and his weapon, watching to see if he would make the first move.

Sora exhaled in exasperation. "Geez. I seriously don't have time for this." He straightened up and pointed the massive sword at Syaoran's chest, his expression both peeved and angry. His chilly blue eyes glittered like a snake's in the firelight. "Fine, let's get this over with. I just really hope you're more of a challenge than Roxas was. Not even his blood was worth that pathetic fight."

Syaoran didn't answer. He just flew at Sora like a bullet from a gun.

* * *

_Christ, I am _evil_! o.o Were you expecting that? But hey, at least you get another fight next update. And there won't be any deaths then…or will there? :o Heck, even I don't know. Honest! This turned out so differently from my initial draft it's like a completely different chapter! Who knows what my head is going to think of next! x.x_

_Sorry, this is just a subpar transitional chapter. More interesting things will happen in the next one, I (kind of) promise._

_Well, hope you liked this anyway. Be patient for the next update as best as you can! ^^_


	13. Unlocked

_Oh my God, how long has it been since I was working on this?! Two weeks? Three? A whole month? Whatever the case, I'm really sorry for such a huge delay. I'm a big fat liar. T_T Since classes started I just don't have as much time and sometimes my motivation escapes me because of the sheer multitude of them! So…expect slow updates. ^^; (Plus I was working on the LUL spinoff oneshot before that…) I really can't help it, so bear with me please. Quality probably won't be as good because of…you know, classes. Ugh. So, sorry in advance._

_Anyway, it's great to be back! Enjoy chapter 12!_

**Ch. 12: Unlocked**

Riku now knew one thing for sure – that Syaoran was one _heck_ of a fighter.

Seriously, who trained the kid? Riku could tell just by watching that Syaoran hadn't even been fighting with a sword for all that long, but he moved with such dexterity and flowed from one strike to the next like the sword was an extension of his arm. The Keyblade was magic so Riku didn't need to worry too much about finesse when he was fighting, but he still couldn't deny feeling a twinge of envy.

And Riku knew that the kid was good if he was giving _Sora_ of all people a hard time. In terms of pure skill, Sora was definitely superior. But he was now lacking the drive that had always been a part of him ever since he started his journey all those years ago. In that department, Syaoran had the upper hand. Sora wasn't fighting for a cause that he believed in like he once did – there was just pure bloodlust emanating from him, and Riku absolutely hated that feeling. Seeking was really not doing any favors for him here; it was just making him downright nauseous being near his old friend.

Riku wanted to punch the floor in frustration. Why was Sora acting like this? There had to be some sort of explanation for his behavior that made sense! Sure, Sora had been through things that no teenager should ever have to experience, but what he was doing was still wrong! Something _had_ to be influencing him, it just had to. Sora wouldn't do this of his own volition; he'd never dream of it. He'd probably get really upset, but he wouldn't go around sporadically killing and maiming random people.

_Sora…_ he thought helplessly. _What happened to you? What aren't you telling me?_

Watching his friend trying to kill this boy – this boy that never should've had anything to do with them – with such a maniacal sort of excitement on his face made Riku feel like his heart was being torn out of his body. This couldn't be Sora. This _wasn't_ his best friend.

He looked to his right, where the incapacitated body of Tsubasa leaned against the wall. A surge of bitterness washed over him, irrational as it was. Tsubasa might be practically dead right now, but he still had someone out there fighting to save him. And Riku was just sitting here, unable to do anything to save his friend from whatever darkness was commanding him thanks to his stupid injuries and ineptitude, forcing someone he barely knew to deal with the problem that Riku had inexplicably brought here. He should be the one going toe-to-toe with Sora.

As much as he hated to do it, Riku closed his eyes and tried to focus his attention on Sora as the latter battled Syaoran. There had to be some form of light underneath all this stifling darkness, and Riku wanted to find it at any cost. He didn't want to give up on his best friend, and there was no chance he would be forced into it like Roxas had tried to make him do. It was better than just sitting here being mad at himself for being incompetent.

But then his eyes snapped open. Thinking about Roxas only brought in a whole new round of distractions.

He couldn't believe what Roxas had goaded him into agreeing to. He actually had expected Riku to go through with his promise and _kill_ Sora. Did Roxas not know him at all? Had he been addled by all the blood loss when he'd found him? There was no way that Riku could kill his friend – and even if he'd actually tried to, he would inevitably fail. Roxas had been nothing short of crazy. There could be no other explanation.

Yet why did he have this horrible sinking feeling that Roxas had been right? What if ending Sora's life really _was_ the only way to end all this? Talking to him wouldn't work. Being his pawn's punching bag wouldn't work. And judging from the progress of the battle between his friend and Syaoran, straight-up fighting probably wasn't going to solve the problem either.

The two were way too evenly matched. Neither of them could get even a scratch on the other, and at the moment their worst enemy was fatigue. Both Syaoran and Sora were rapidly losing stamina, and it showed quite plainly – their skin glistened with sweat in the dim lighting, their breathing was heavier, and their strikes were becoming slower with each swing. It was especially noticeable with Sora – he'd been crippled at the start anyway thanks to Roxas.

Eventually it came to a point when they were at a stalemate. Both battlers came to a standstill, spaced several yards apart, their weapons still brandished. They looked utterly spent – it was a wonder to Riku that they were still able to stand, much less hold on to their blades. And if looks could kill, they would've blasted each other into ashes _ages_ ago.

Although…it didn't look like Syaoran was angry. His expression was probably more frustrated than anything, which confused him. Was he upset because he hadn't been able to land a hit on his adversary this entire time? Syaoran should've been proud of himself for being able to hold his own for so long!

Unsurprisingly, Sora was wearing a similar expression (by this point Riku wouldn't have been shocked if Sora had stabbed somebody right at that moment); if not then extreme annoyance. Despite looking more exhausted, he was the first of the two to straighten up from his hunched posture and start lashing out at his foe through his breathlessness.

"You…you're _ridiculously_ annoying, you know that?" Sora wheezed, irritation plain in his tone. "Why won't you just give up and let me end your misery already?!"

Riku saw Syaoran's grip tighten on his sword's hilt a moment later as he shot back with, "Let _you_ end _my_ misery? I'm sorry, but that won't happen. I will _never_ let it happen. I promised Tsubasa that I wouldn't ever give you that chance." He closed his eyes briefly. "Speaking of, shouldn't you be more concerned with ending _your_ misery instead?"

Sora's eyes narrowed in incredulity. "Excuse me?"

"I'm not the one who is suffering the most," Syaoran continued as he too rose from his crouched position. He fixed his amber eyes on Sora's sapphire. "It's you."

"Damn right I am!" Sora yelled at him fiercely. "Of course I'm the one hurting the most! What kind of an idiot do you take me for?"

"I never said that you were an idiot, Sora." He lowered his sword. "You're just lacking in conscience."

"What are you talking about?"

Syaoran lowered his gaze to the scuffed-up marble floor as he whispered, "You feel grief, bitterness, and anger…but where's the guilt? Where's the conviction? Don't you have any of that left?"

Sora looked surprised at Syaoran's sudden change of countenance, and Riku couldn't deny feeling shocked as well. What was Syaoran trying to do here? Didn't he know by now that trying to talk his enemy down wouldn't work? Riku had tried that, but it had backfired on him – and he was supposed to be Sora's best friend. What hope did Syaoran have of reforming Sora?

Unless…he wasn't trying to change his mind so much as he was genuinely curious.

Syaoran didn't look like he was trying to con Sora out of his crazy murder spree through some hokey reforming speech. He sounded truly heartbroken, like he actually cared deeply about Sora's fate. Even his expression showed bona fide concern. Riku wasn't entirely sure how to take seeing this coming from someone that they barely knew who couldn't be more than fifteen…but like his first impression of him, Syaoran just seemed much more adult-like and mature than any other child his age that he'd seen. Those words wouldn't sound out of place coming out of a disappointed father's lips (and Riku knew a thing or two about that).

Sora, however, wouldn't buy this show of concern that easily. He raised his massive sword in front of him as he backed up a couple steps. "Don't talk to me like you know me," he hissed threateningly, suspicion (perhaps even fear) glimmering in his cold eyes. "Don't you _dare_."

Syaoran didn't say anything for a short while; he just kept staring straight into Sora's eyes like he was trying to pry the secrets out of those azure orbs himself. Sora seemed incapable of tearing his gaze away, only being freed once Syaoran lowered his head.

"You don't want to answer me," Syaoran observed at last, both his tone and eyes downcast. "I guess…that tells me all that I need to know."

"Just what were you trying to do anyway?" Sora snapped, his voice hard (and even somewhat shaken). "Trying to pull a Riku and talk me out of this? Why don't you just quit while you're ahead?"

Even before that last word was fully formed, Syaoran had moved in with such speed Riku almost missed it – the tip of his katana now just barely brushed Sora's throat by a hairsbreadth. It was impossible to decide how surprised he was. Sora tried backing away, but Syaoran wouldn't let him increase the distance, at which point the former decided that it would be best to avoid moving. He glared at his opponent in pure loathing.

"I don't want to kill you, Sora," Syaoran went on, his voice matter-of-fact. "So please, before you're forced to spill more blood, drop your sword."

Sora stared at him like he was crazy. "You've got to be kidding. You've got your sword to my neck and you're telling _me_ to drop my weapon?"

Syaoran's eyes were hard. "It's the only way to save yourself," he pointed out harshly. "And I said that I don't want to kill you. I never said that I trusted you."

Sora scoffed at those words, and Riku himself couldn't really put much stock into what Syaoran was implying here. If Riku had been the one in Sora's shoes, he probably would have had a similar reaction.

"Right," Sora spat derisively. "Like once I drop this sword all my problems will go away just like that. Do you really think I'm that stupid? You of all people should know – it's not. That. _Simple!_"

He might as well have just literally spit in Syaoran's face, but the latter didn't even flinch. He simply pushed his blade against Sora's throat so that a trickle of blood ran down his neck.

"What if I told you it really is that simple?" Syaoran suggested plainly. "Just drop your weapon, and then maybe you'll actually think about what you're doing to yourself."

Riku frowned to himself. He was still going at it? Wouldn't he have realized by now that talking to Sora wouldn't compel him to drop the sword?

Riku stopped short. Wait a minute. Drop the sword?

He locked onto Sora again with all his concentration, and he nearly threw up from the nausea brought on by the feedback. It was a torrent of negativity – anger, hate, jealousy, bitterness, fear, stress – just about every negative feeling that existed ensnaring his friend. The amount of them was downright absurd; no one could live through this. Riku realized with a sinking heart that most of these feelings were genuine – thanks to all the fighting and killing that he'd been forced to do in such a short time frame. The more recent acts of intentional murder weren't helping either.

It was like an invisible dam hiding all these emotions in Sora's heart had been ruptured and the flood of this darkness had overtaken his identity. Probably the doing of an outside force, as Riku noticed a constant stream of unfamiliar yet malicious energy holding this escape route open. So if an outside force was pushing Sora to what he was doing now, and Syaoran was telling him time and again to drop the sword…

Riku's eyes snapped open in horror. Oh God. The sword must be the source of the strange energy Yen Sid had talked about! But how had Syaoran known about that weapon's role in all this? Was it because Tsubasa had supposedly told him? He normally would have deemed that notion absurd if he hadn't been exposed to all the crazy things he'd experienced. Weird things happened, and by this point Riku should've been accustomed to that (heck, just being Sora's friend merited for the sheer amount of crazy). Damn his sense of logic. Damn it.

In the time it had taken Riku to figure all this out, either Syaoran's charitable feelings towards Sora had apparently run out or Sora had just lost his patience, because the two of them were fighting again. Metal clashed with metal over and over, the sparks in the wakes of the blows showering in every direction. Their strikes were considerably slower thanks to fatigue, but that didn't make this situation any less tense. Riku was just waiting for one of them to trip in exhaustion and accidentally impale himself.

And just his luck, Sora was the first victim of this little fantasy (minus the stabbing-himself-with-his-sword part). He thrust his sword forward with a little more momentum than he could handle in his state, and promptly staggered – which gave Syaoran an opening. He twisted around with lightning speed and struck Sora's wrist with the guard of his katana with enough force to unclench the former's fingers and knock the weapon away far enough that it shattered the huge mirror that had been acting as the backdrop of this brawl.

The mirror toppled over with an oversized claymore embedded in its center as the pieces of glass shrapnel flew around the room after the resounding crash, drawing blood from all present (or it would have if Riku hadn't shielded Tsubasa's body on impulse) and somehow completely missing the two lampposts. Riku shut his eyes tightly and waited for the cacophonous sound of a two-ton sheet of glass shattering into a million pieces to end.

It went on for what seemed like an eternity.

When it finally fell silent, the first thing Riku did was whirl around to face Sora. Had Syaoran's act worked? Did they have the Sora he knew back?

His best friend was kneeling on the ground in the midst of the sea of fragmented glass. Blood stains – both old and new – covered the length of his body, clothes, and hair. Both his pants and vest were torn from the flying glass shards. Riku wasn't sure if it was a trick of the lights, but Sora's skin looked gaunt and pale, as if he were nothing more than skin and bone.

But worst of all was his face.

It too was dotted with crimson droplets and riddled with cuts. That was nothing next to the mask it wore – pure terror and grief, unfiltered shock and shame, blending together to create a completely broken expression. The tears cascading down his cheeks mixed with the blood, turning milky red before dripping to the floor.

Sora's face told Riku everything – Sora was fully aware that he'd been acting like a psychopath.

But still…Riku _had_ to make sure that this truly was his best friend. He didn't want to get conned again – especially since he had no way of defending himself because of his stupid broken rib, so he decided to try Seeking again. If Sora really was no longer their enemy, then the void in his heart would no longer be there…or at least be much less noticeable. He fixed his attention on Sora once more (with his eyes open this time; he didn't want to take any chances here) and felt as if his heart would burst from sheer relief. Sora _was_ back to normal. The level of the darkness was completely leveled out now.

Yet…it still wasn't quite the same as before. Sora might have his reason back, but that didn't fix the fact that he probably remembered _willingly_ slaughtering the people he loved and actually _enjoying_ it. That sort of thing wasn't something someone like Sora could handle, and there was now a part of his heart that was irreversibly broken.

"Riku?" Syaoran called out suddenly, prompting Riku to turn to him. Syaoran was visibly on edge. "Is he…did it work? Is he back to normal?"

_Yeah, he's back all right_, Riku thought bitterly. _He's just not the same as he used to be._ But he instead said aloud, "I think so. But I want to be on the safe side, so I need your help."

"Oh, uh…of course," Syaoran said. "What do you want me to do?"

Riku held out a hand. "Help me up."

"But…" Syaoran's eyes flickered to Riku's body, nervously scouring the numerous injuries that he himself had inflicted. "You're hurt real badly…you shouldn't be moving."

Riku didn't lower his arm. "Help me up," he repeated, his tone insistent. "I'm not hurt any more than you are. Quit standing there and help me already." Okay, so technically that wasn't true. Syaoran was covered in cuts from the glass (including some embedded in his skin), but compared to everyone else he was the least incapacitated. In either case, it would waste too much energy for Riku to stand up on his own – he wanted to save it for walking. He didn't care if he had to give Syaoran a death threat in order to get him to help him stand.

The younger boy obviously caught onto his message, because he bit his lip and hurried over to Riku. Syaoran took Riku's hand, but also put his free hand against his back so Riku wouldn't scream in pain from his broken rib bone.

It took a couple (admittedly pretty painful) attempts, but Riku was now standing in a hunched position, his eyes on Sora. The latter hadn't moved from his position even by a little. Sora hadn't looked up, hadn't shifted in place, hadn't stopped letting his bloodstained tears flow. Almost as if he was waiting.

But for what?

* * *

_*singing* "…and that's why he's called Cliff Hanger~"_

…_Sorry. I used to watch _Between the Lions_ a lot when I was a kid. 'Cause I love books. And it's a show taking place in a library. Geddit? *shot* (But yeah, it's still a cliffhanger. I mean, _duh_. XD)_

_Anyway…surprise! Sora's back to normal (kind of)! Bet you were expecting me to kill him here, weren't ya? :D I wonder what he's waiting for…this will be revealed sometime next chapter! …Whenever I get around to it. (Like I said…classes! -_-) Also, if you know me well enough, you know that this tiny spot of happy (if you can even call it that) isn't going to last._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks again and in advance for your amazing patience! Now I must spend the rest of the night studying for my permit test!_

_*proceeds to vanish for what will probably be another month*_


	14. Laments

_Well, this didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might. But whatever – I'm back, you guys! Yay! :D I have finally saved you from that _agonizing_ cliffhanger last chapter! You owe me a review! (I kid, I kid. But seriously, I'd like one. XD) _

_Not much else to say here except that…this chapter has quite a bit of angst. And it's not entirely my fault this time. Ha! XP I hope you enjoy what I have cooked up for you in this one! Enjoy!_

**Ch. 13: Laments**

Watching Riku and Sora was like waiting for a ticking time bomb to suddenly malfunction and explode.

Syaoran backed a couple of steps away from Riku so that he was observing the two of them at once as the latter continued to stare at their former adversary. He had no idea what Riku was planning to do. Talk to him? Yell at him? Start crying? Maybe a combination of the three? Or none of the above and just straight-up hug him or something? Would he do that?

Riku raised a hand. When Sora still wouldn't budge, Riku promptly clenched his hand into a fist and punched him in the side of his face. Sora toppled sideways into the glass shards beneath the blow as Syaoran gasped with shock.

_Riku…!_ he thought once in panic.

He was hovering over Sora now, his fist raised for another round, but he wouldn't move his arm. Syaoran could see that his entire body was shaking – from pain or rage, he didn't know. He just knelt that way, his fist inches from Sora's now-bruised cheek, for what seemed like an endless amount of time.

"Why did you stop?"

Syaoran flinched. Sora had finally spoken. His words were simple in diction yet so impacting in delivery – his voice was filled with anger and resignation, yet he still managed to sound completely emotionless at the same time.

"Why did you stop?" Sora repeated in that same flat voice, still prostrate on the glass, refusing to look his friend in the eye. "I know you're not anywhere close to being done. Go ahead. Hit me until you're satisfied."

Riku's raised arm tensed, and for a moment Syaoran was afraid that he would take up Sora's offer. But thankfully Riku wasn't having that – he lowered his fist and let it hang limply at his side. He glared at Sora, his jaw clenched in his fury.

"You idiot," Riku said, his voice trembling with emotion. "Hitting you won't fix anything. Hitting you won't bring anyone back!"

Sora's voice was still inflectionless. "It brought me back."

"That's not the same thing!" Riku shouted angrily. "You were never gone!"

"Exactly. What difference does that make, right? I still killed my friends." Sora drew in a deep breath, and when he spoke again it showed his very first trace of emotion. "I killed my friends…I was the one who did it all."

At this Riku reached out, grabbed Sora by the collar of his torn vest, and yanked him upright. Riku's eyes were flashing with venom, and yet Sora didn't even flinch. He stared up benignly at his friend with those dull eyes of his, showing no fear.

"Are you going to choke me, Riku?" he asked quietly.

Riku pulled him closer until they were practically nose to nose. "Stop talking like that," he ordered, his voice shaking again. "Just stop. Do you have any idea what's coming out of your mouth right now? Do you?"

"No idea." A humorless grin traced Sora's lips ever so slightly. "Maybe you can fill me in."

"No, I can't," Riku snapped. "Just listen to yourself! Do you want me to hate you? Do you want me to beat you to death? Do you want me to start cursing at you for murdering and tormenting all those innocent people? Forget it; I'm not some heartless jerk!"

Sora merely snorted softly. "But isn't that normal?" he asked. "You seriously think I can forgive myself for doing all that? Did you think that I'd let you forgive me that easily just because you're my best friend?" He then glowered at Riku, regaining some of the cold anger and hurt that had been there just minutes before. "Don't you know me at all, Riku?"

Syaoran could do nothing but watch the two helplessly. Once again, he was locked out of the loop. Whatever conflicts those two had, Syaoran could do nothing to stop them. Sora wasn't expecting to be forgiven so easily for his crimes – that, Syaoran could see. But at the same time it was what he wanted more than anything, to be forgiven for everything that he did. Not without any sort of punishment, of course, but still – even though Sora did his best to hide that fact though his emotionless façade, he still wanted to be forgiven.

The only question was…who was going to be doing the forgiving?

Sora continued speaking when Riku gave no response. "See? You do, don't you? You know who I am, Riku, and what I've done. There's no way this is just going to blow over. I need to pay my dues."

"Where did you find it?" Riku demanded, completely disregarding his friend's words. "Where did you find that sword? _When_ did you find it? How did it take your sense of self away?"

Sora looked away. "I didn't find it," he murmured. "It found _me_."

Syaoran felt his eyes widen in shock. _What did he just say?_

Riku spoke his thoughts out loud. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know." Sora's voice started to shake. "I just saw it there – several days ago, in the Secret Place. It was in front of the Keyhole, like somebody had stabbed it into the ground there. Something wasn't right with it; I could tell. I wasn't going to take the sword…but something told me to. There was a…a voice in my head that told me that I had to take it. I swear to you, I didn't want to listen to it. I wanted to walk back out and leave it there; I wanted to forget that I ever saw it. But I couldn't…it – it wouldn't let me." Fear began creeping into his tone. "My body wouldn't listen to what I told it to do. My muscles weren't responding to me at all. I – I couldn't do anything; it was like I was trapped in my own body, and I was watching myself walk forward and grab the handle. The voice in my head wouldn't go away when I took it; it just got worse. It kept saying that I should take revenge on the world, punish it and take back what I lost because of it. It wouldn't stop…it just kept repeating those words over and over until I couldn't think anymore, and then I started wanting it." The tears started running down his bloodied cheeks again as he continued in that same terrified voice. "I started wanting revenge on everyone, every little circumstance that made me lose my old life. I found Kairi, and I took her to Twilight Town…then I stabbed her through the chest." Sora shuddered. "It…it actually made me happy. I was scared, Riku. I was so scared that I felt that way, but right after that I just stopped caring. She was just the first item on the list that I'd crossed out. Then I went to find – to find Lea, and I slaughtered him on the spot. I felt even better. That's when Roxas showed up." He drew in a shuddering voice as he continued, "He told me to stop what I was doing, that I wasn't acting like myself…but I ignored him and beat him with an inch of his life left because I thought that he was just being really annoying, but I didn't kill him…because killing him would've only made things worse for me. And there were more people, so many others that I started wanting to cross off that list…"

Here Sora broke off, his façade completely crumbled away. His expression was one of pure fear and guilt. His tears were pouring with mirth now, washing the blood off his cheeks. He was trembling violently beneath Riku's firm grip on him, but it wasn't out of weakness. His friend was shaking his head in denial even as Sora stopped speaking.

"Sora, that can't be true," Riku said. "There's no way that can be true. You would never –"

"But I did." Sora's eyes were hidden by his brown bangs. "I did feel that way; I was happy every time I killed or tortured someone…but it was only for a little while. So I just kept going after other people when I was through with my list, people that I didn't even know – just for a small dose of the satisfaction that came with it. But in the end…you were right. Getting revenge on the people who made living my life so hard wasn't making me happy at all. I just made it worse; I just grew more miserable! I even killed Roxas!" Sora then broke off into a tangent and began berating himself for that misdeed. "I killed _Roxas_, Riku. You saw me do it, and you heard me calling him a pest…I killed him, even though he was trying to help me. He was trying so hard…and he ended up dying because of me!" He choked back a sob and breathed in a voice laced with despair, "I killed him, Riku…my own Nobody! There's no way I can be forgiven after that. Not after everything else I did. There's just no way…!"

Syaoran almost forgot to breathe as he listened to Sora's lament. He exhaled sharply once the latter suddenly dissolved into sobs. How long had he been holding his breath? He had no idea.

Even so, Sora's story appalled him. It was amazing that Sora could even function as a person after all that. Syaoran couldn't imagine what it felt like to remember that he enjoyed the act of murdering and tormenting each and every one of his victims and speaking of it to someone else – even to the person closest to him. He knew what it was like, knowing that he'd caused unimaginable suffering to so many, but his memories of his deeds were scant – he didn't actually remember doing them; he only was aware now that he'd actually done what he'd done. But to recall every single moment of that in detail…Syaoran's stomach twisted into a knot at the thought. He was almost glad that he didn't remember.

He was also flabbergasted at the fact that Fei Wong's sword had somehow ended up in another world and appeared before Sora, compelling him to take up the blade and carry out its mindless wish for revenge. Since when did that weapon gain any sentience? Was it at the time when both he and Tsubasa had been pulled into a void upon Fei Wong's destruction? He had no idea – he'd disappeared before Tsubasa had the chance to leave the void – he'd been one of Fei Wong's creations after all, and was only following the trail of his literal maker. Anything could've happened to that weapon after that.

But for _this_ to have happened of all things…

"Sora," Riku said at last after a pregnant pause. "Don't be upset; it wasn't your fault. You were being tricked into –"

"But I let it! I let it trick me; I didn't fight hard enough! I gave in at the beginning, and that was all the leverage it needed!" Sora swatted his friend's arm away in frustration. "How could you still be talking to me after all that? Yell at me, hit me, kill me, disown me as your friend – I don't care what you do; just make me pay for what I did! Just stop telling me that everything will be okay, because that's not true! It's a lie, a complete lie!"

Riku's expression was pained. "I can't do that," he said. "No matter how much you beg me. I'm not denying what you did, Sora – you really did do some really bad things. But you're still my best friend." He took Sora's shoulders and forced him to look him in the eye. "You forgave me even after I sided with the darkness and I tried to kill you. Let me return the favor. As a friend."

The young brunette hesitated for a moment at his friend's words. Syaoran didn't know if Riku could tell, but Sora's eyes were distracted and unfocused – his thoughts were clearly elsewhere. The subtle yet frantic light in those blue orbs scared him for some reason – what was Sora planning?

Sora's eyes suddenly hardened infinitesimally, but it was so fleeting Syaoran wondered if he'd actually seen it.

"Syaoran," Sora called unexpectedly, his voice unsettlingly calm.

Syaoran flinched, having not expected either of them to acknowledge his presence. He focused his gaze on Sora, who too was watching him steadily from his position on the glass-littered floor. Syaoran wasn't sure how he should respond, so he simply looked upon him, waiting for a more specific prompt to answer.

"You're mad at me too, aren't you?" he continued, a resigned expression on his face. "I cursed your anchor and threatened your very existence. But…he's more than that, right? He didn't just recreate you and Sakura…he's someone really important to both of you, isn't he?"

Syaoran couldn't speak. He didn't know how to answer this, either. All he felt was a reasonable response was to simply nod once. As afraid to speak aloud as he was, he still couldn't bring himself to lie.

Sora chuckled humorlessly. "I figured as much. But you can stop worrying about him now – the curse is gone. He'll wake up eventually."

Syaoran felt his chest tighten in horror at himself – how could he have forgotten about Tsubasa in the middle of all this? He turned and immediately ran to Tsubasa's side. True to Sora's word, the peculiar death seal had vanished from his chest, and he didn't look quite as pale. He merely looked as if he was asleep now. He reached out a hand and cradled Tsubasa's cheek – it was definitely warmer than before. Syaoran felt as if his heart was about to burst in relief – Tsubasa was all right now. He was still alive. He wanted to cry in sheer happiness, but he tried to keep himself in check. He would've said thank you on a normal occasion, but…his feelings were mixed at the moment. He didn't know whether to feel thankful for Tsubasa being back to normal or resentful to Sora for making him that way in the first place.

Sora must've easily seen through his expression, because he heard him say bitterly, "I know you're still upset, Syaoran. No amount of apologizing will make this better, but still…I'm sorry."

Syaoran turned around and observed Sora's broken expression. He wanted to accept the apology. He wanted to get over this and just move on, but his approval was stuck somewhere in his throat. Some part of him wanted to let him say those words that would make everything like it was okay, but he couldn't get them out. What Sora had said earlier was true; there was no way this could – or would – blow over so easily.

Riku pulled one of his hands away so that one rested on Sora's left shoulder. "Let's go back, Sora," he said. "Let's go back and explain everything to everyone. I'm sure they –"

Sora abruptly brushed Riku's hand off his shoulder and rose to his feet, standing with his back turned to him. "I can't go back, Riku. I have nowhere to go back to."

"What are you talking about?" Riku asked incredulously, clearly shocked. "Of course you do! You do realize that everyone else is worried sick about you, don't you? They're all waiting for you and praying that nothing bad happened. You have to go back and at least let them know you're okay!"

Sora shook his head. "I can't," he repeated, his voice tremoring. "I can't leave this place." He winced. "Besides, once they hear everything about what I did, they won't want me back."

"Of course they'll want you back!" Riku said harshly. "They won't ever abandon you, Sora! As far as they're concerned, you're still their friend!"

Sora scoffed bitterly. "Yeah. Sure. You keep on believing that. It still won't change anything. I won't be going."

"Sora, you…do you have…just what…" Riku was so distraught he was unable for form a coherent sentence for several moments before finally exclaiming, "What is _wrong _with you?! Do you have any idea what you're saying?!"

There was a long, tense pause. Sora then turned around halfway to grin sadly at Riku. "Yeah, I've got a pretty good idea this time," he answered his friend softly. "So don't worry."

The young brunette then turned to face Syaoran again, and in his eyes Syaoran could see conviction. He grew wary at that expression. Whatever Sora was thinking right now, Syaoran was sure he wouldn't like it.

"Syaoran," Sora began. "I owe a special apology to you in particular. I was overtaken by revenge, and I caught you up in it without knowing any better when I should've left you alone. So…it's only fitting that you should be the one to do it."

It took a minute, but Syaoran finally found his voice and managed to croak, "The one? What do you mean? To do what?"

Sora closed his eyes for a moment. A weapon flashed into existence in Sora's right hand – a giant key, like the one Roxas had been holding when they'd first met – only this one was longer, more intricate in design, and white.

"To do what you should have done at the start," Sora replied, falling into a strange two-handed stance and brandishing that peculiar weapon. A determined glint reflected off of his azure eyes. "Have me go down fighting."

* * *

_Sweet monkeys on pogo sticks. Justice333, this is all your fault. ;~; You got me mad at Sora; look at what happened! T_T Everybody else, just know that I really felt for Sora after I was done writing this…I swear to God Himself I did! This chapter was _not_ drafted. Completely original, folks. So it should be pretty obvious – I wasn't planning this; the original draft was much nicer to Sora. I still blame Justice for getting me mad at him. *pouts stubbornly* Anyway, this story will still have the drafted ending…I just didn't expect this chapter to happen like it did. And look, we're now set for another fighting scene, and I can't gloss this one over…oh joy. Won't this be a fun ride. _

_Oh, and guess what? OMGSPOILERAL – actually, no. Never mind. Gotcha! XD_

_To end off this ridiculously long author's note trying in complete vain to excuse what I did in this chapter, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you'll look forward to the next chapter. See you guys then!_


	15. Alive

_This chapter came so ridiculously fast it isn't even funny. I finished this in one night. *sigh* Okay…let's get this over with. Second to last chapter, stuff happens, there's a fight, blah blah, plots, angst, torture and blah. Alright let's (almost) finish this thing!_

_Onward!_

_(Plus you'll notice that this chapter is vastly different from the rest once you read the first paragraph or so. And be prepared for a really, really, REALLY long author's note at the end! :D)_

**Ch. 14: Alive**

Syaoran wouldn't budge.

He was staring at me, his eyes wide in absolute horror, like he was hoping that I was kidding about what I'd just said. That thought left a bitter taste in my mouth – _kidding?_ I couldn't even remember what that was like anymore, let alone do it now. Did he really expect me to start kidding around now, at a time like this?

This was the only way that things would ever be right, the only way that I could pay for every horrible thing I did – which was a lot. No amount of _Don't worry_s or _I forgive you_s would ever fix this. Not even from Riku. _Especially_ not from Riku. He said that he wanted to return the favor from when I forgave him after falling into darkness – no, that wasn't the same thing as this. Everything that had happened after the islands were destroyed would have happened sooner or later without Riku opening the Keyhole. What happened with me was different – this whole thing could've been avoided if I hadn't taken that stupid sword.

"Sora; no!" Riku cried as he tried to stand. "There's got to be some other way to do this!"

I gritted my teeth but I didn't answer him. _No, there isn't_, I wanted to tell him. _You don't understand. You weren't there when I did those things._

I was terrified just thinking about it now. Neither Kairi nor Lea had suspected anything when I came to them. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to them, and that was what I'd been going for. I could still remember their expressions of horror and disbelief, as if they were thinking, _How could you?_ for the last time before I took their lives away. I remembered their faces, those horrible faces that were going to haunt my memory for the rest of eternity, and my cold reaction to those expressions that I would never live down. I tried to chase those thoughts away to get to the situation at hand.

"Come on, Syaoran," I said, my jaw still clenched. "Don't let me be the one who makes the first move. Where did all that fearlessness go?"

The kid _still_ wouldn't move. Geez, of all the times to start acting as the pacifist or being scared out of his wits, he starts doing it now! Damn it!

"Sora…" Syaoran looked completely scared out of his mind. He wouldn't stop trembling. He could barely hang on to his weapon. "Please…please, I don't want to do this… don't make me do this…"

"Believe me, I don't want to," I responded, my own voice a bit shakier than before. My face felt wet and sticky from blood, sweat, and tears. "I don't want to make you do this, Syaoran…but I will if I have to. So please…do it now! You've got to!"

Syaoran's composure was completely gone now; he looked like a little kid who got separated from his parents and wanted to cry, paralyzed by fear. He was lost, confused, and very, very scared. I couldn't blame him, though; look at what I was trying to get him to do. I wanted him to fight me and hopefully make the right choice in the end. I felt horrible, absolutely disgusted at myself for forcing him into this, but it had to be him. It was only right. Riku would just flat-out refuse to do what I asked, anyway.

"Don't do it, Syaoran!" Riku pleaded with him desperately. "You can't!"

Syaoran's expression was pure agony. He had no idea what to do. When he still wouldn't raise his sword, I knew that I had no other choice. I had to be the one to start this. In some ways, this was sort of what I hoped for – even if Syaoran decided to run at me now, his heart wouldn't be in it. If I started this my way, he wouldn't hold back. It didn't change the fact that I still felt really awful for resorting to this, but I took my only comfort in the fact that Syaoran wouldn't remember doing this afterward. I straightened, prompting him to look at me with a hopeful expression. Looking at that face I almost reconsidered my choice, but then I looked down at the broken glass that had come from the broken mirror, and my resolve hardened again.

"Syaoran," I said at last. "I'm really sorry about this."

I invoked the last bit of magic that I had left from using that corrupted sword – I caught Syaoran in the eye, and I brought him to his knees with all the willpower that I could muster.

"Sora, what are you doing?!" I heard Riku demand in panic. I ignored him, ignored Syaoran's gasps of pain, and focused on my task.

_Ignore the pain_, I thought forcefully._ Ignore the hurt. Ignore everything that stands in your way, and show no mercy. Do whatever it takes to take me down._

I imposed those thoughts onto him while doing my best to ignore the gasps of pain coming from him. Those last few seconds felt like an eternity, but eventually the cries of agony stopped.

At that point I knew that I'd succeeded. I barely had time to catch my breath before Syaoran lunged for my throat.

* * *

There's a certain euphoria that comes with pain.

I know; it sounds downright weird coming from somebody like me. But honestly, even if I normally wouldn't have thought so, it'd still be true. Believing in something doesn't automatically make it real. Refusing to believe something is real doesn't mean it really isn't. That's just how it goes.

It's odd, really – I must've felt this euphoria before, but I never really acknowledged that it was there until now. If you feel pain, you know you're really alive. If you accept and comprehend that pain, you know you're human. All living things feel pain, but only humans truly know what it means. To everything else it's a distraction, an obstacle. To us it's a warning, a message. _Something bad has happened to you_, it says. _You have to do something to fix it_, it says. And we as humans decide on what course of action to take based on that warning.

We have a bunch of different reactions to that. Some try to do something about it, as their pain is telling them to do. They try to do what they can to make the pain go away. There are some people that just take the pain as it comes, taking it as the animals would – just a distraction, getting in the way of surviving.

And of course there are people who take the pain as punishment, opting only for the worst in order to feel as if they're actually forgiven once they endure it. Some of them might be, but I wasn't one of those people because I wouldn't be enduring this pain. I was going to succumb to it.

Those thoughts were running through my head as Syaoran beat me down, over and over and over again. Granted I wasn't really trying too hard fending him off – that defeated the very purpose of this fight. The only reason I got back up each time was so that I could be knocked down again, in order to feel the rush of exhilaration that came with the agony. Yes, I was really feeling this pain, and yes, I knew what it was, understood it. I felt the stinging cut beneath my chin. I felt the agonizing throb in my chest where I'd been kicked and where my left fingers had been broken. I felt the burning and swollen lumps on my face that I knew were my cheeks (which probably didn't look as bad as they felt to me). I felt the stabbing pains from the sword wounds in my sides. I felt each and every little shard of glass piercing my skin, and every one of the bruises surrounding them.

But most of all, I felt alive. I'd never been this aware of life before. As I approached the end my eyes were newly opened to this amazing thing called life. It was beautiful and priceless, because it was instantaneous. It helped me to accept even more that this was the proper punishment for me, since I had taken that precious life from so many people and burned it all to ashes like scrap wood. What better way for me to pay for it than burning my own life away, little by little, to compensate for all those lives that I had taken with so little warning?

I smiled a little despite myself at that thought. _Look at me; I'm getting all philosophical and emotional about life while being beaten to death._ Talk about a case of irony, right? Who's got time to think about life when they're about to die? Maybe all the blood loss was making me all lightheaded and giddy, or maybe I'd gone crazy for real this time.

Heh…well, who cares by this point? I certainly don't. I wasn't going to last long enough for that to matter.

I could hear Riku calling my name again and again. His voice was fuzzy. He sounded panicked and desperate and maybe even a little crazy – not at all the Riku that I knew. I wondered how bad I looked to him. Pretty horrible, I guessed. He was being tortured beyond imagination too – just on a different level. Watching me being pummeled to death while being physically incapable of doing anything to help me couldn't be fun for him. And if he had seen my little grin, he probably thought that I'd seriously lost it.

Here Syaoran knocked me down so hard my breath whooshed out of my lungs like an accordion. Ultima Weapon skittered away out of my grip from the impact and vanished in a flash of light. My head cracked against the hard floor, and I felt the glass shards cutting my scalp open and letting the warm blood leak through my hair. Spots danced in my field of vision and I had to summon all my willpower to avoid passing out. This wasn't the way I wanted to go out.

"_Sora!_" Riku's voice was even more muffled now but I could tell that he was still absolutely terror-stricken. I dimly wondered if I was going deaf.

_Riku…you'll never change, huh? _I thought._ Do me a favor and keep it that way. Okay? Man, I wish you could hear me…_

_He did._

That voice came out of nowhere so suddenly that I would've flinched if I'd had the strength. I would've made a face too, but…it's hard making facial expressions when your cheeks are burning like they are on fire and it hurts to even twitch your lips.

_Roxas?_

_So, you're knocked back into your senses, huh? _Yeah. Definitely Roxas. _I had a feeling Syaoran wouldn't let me down in that department. _

_Yeah…he's a dependable kid. I can vouch for that, too. Like you probably would._

_Already have._

_Great._

A long pause. _…Welcome back, Sora._

_Thanks. But, uh…aren't you mad at me?_

_For what?_

_Um…you know, for stabbing you through the chest and killing you. I mean, I know you planned that and everything, but…_

_Oh, yeah; that. _Seriously, how do you forget being stabbed through the chest? _Well, yeah; I am kind of upset. But I guess it'd matter more if I had _actually_ died, right? And at least Riku's still alive. You probably would've lost it completely if you came to and you were staring at his mutilated corpse._

_Thank you, Captain Sunshine, for that tiny ray of optimism._

_Hey, no worries. That's what I'm here for._

_Please don't tell me Riku is listening to all this._

_He is._

_What?!_

_Haha, I'm kidding. You're so funny when you're upset. _Ugh. This guy I swear._ But seriously, if you want to tell him something, I'll make sure it gets to him._

_You're serious?_

_Would I lie to you?_

_Yeah, you would. Like that time when –_

_Okay, okay; bad example. But I'm telling you the truth. Honest. I even told him what you just wanted to tell him. If you want to send another message just say the word._

_Really?_

_Really. I mean, before time runs out._

_There's a time limit to telepathic conversations? _Since when does that happen?

_Yeah, and you're wasting it. Got anything to say?_

_Oh geez…uh…_

_Clock's ticking, Sora._

_Don't rush me! Final speeches take time!_

_Sorry. _Hmph. That jerk.

_Okay, anyway…Riku, I want to tell you thanks for everything. You're the best friend any guy can have, and I feel extremely lucky that you were mine. Since I won't be around for much longer, I want you to tell everyone – and I mean _everyone_ – that I'm sorry for everything. I was able to meet so many people and make so many new friends, thanks to you and the Keyblade, too. I feel like I've been a lousy friend back, but…still, I'm grateful to everyone. Life was really hard, and there were so many points where I just wanted to give up, but it was extremely fun at the same time and you were always there to pick me up when I needed it. You'll always be my best friend, Riku, and Kairi and Lea will probably think the same way, too. When I meet them and all those others, the first thing I'll do is apologize, and then tell them all about how you did your best to help me my whole life up until and including now. So when I eventually see you again, they'll welcome you like family, too. I'll see you soon, Riku. I promise._

_Wow, what a mouthful._

_Don't judge me._

_I'm not; don't worry. Just pointing out a fact is all._

_Right. So, he heard all that?_

_Yeah, he should have…no, I'm sure he did._

_Okay. I feel much better now…thanks, Roxas._

_Don't mention it. Two sides of the same coin, right?_

_Yeah._

_Alright. Well – _

_Oh, wait; hold on a second!_

_What?_

_Can I give him one more message?_

_Oh, um…sure. What is it?_

_Just one more thing…Riku, tell Syaoran thanks for me, and that I'm sorry._

_Okay. Relayed._

_Thanks again, Rox. I really owe you one._

_Yeah, you do._

_Wait a minute; does that mean…I'll see you there when I go?_

_Heh, well, what do you think? We're technically the same person, aren't we?_

…_Oh, right. I almost forgot._

_Seriously?_

_Yeah. You're nothing like me at all, so I always forget._

…

_Roxas…? …Hey wait, are you embarrassed?_

_No, I'm not. Shut up. You can't even see me._

_Yeah, you're embarrassed, aren't you? I can tell, you know._

_Ugh, why do you have to be so annoying? Can't you keep at least a little dignity in your final moments?_

_I did. I'm just making up for lost time while I still have it._

_So you don't even have any profound last words to say out loud?_

_Out loud? You mean I can still talk?_

_Yeah. You just haven't tried. _Couldn't he have, I don't know, mentioned this sooner?

_Then what was the whole "relaying message" thing about? It was to make me look like an idiot, wasn't it?_

…_Listen, Sora; we're almost done here._

_You're avoiding my question, Roxas._

_Okay, fine. It wasn't a joke; it all really happened, I swear to you. But I'm not kidding about the "running out of time" thing this time._

_Oh. Oh, great. That's wonderful news. _I'd almost forgotten about the torture I'd been subjecting myself to in the first place. _Well, I can get back to business then…I'll definitely see you there, right, Rox? I owe you lots of apologies, after all._

_Yeah, you will. I'll be waiting for you. And don't call me that._

I blinked, and I was suddenly back in the dark room. I was still on the floor. My injuries were still completely agonizing; I was surprised I hadn't passed out. Or had I? I wasn't sure about which point in time that I'd experienced that conversation, but I guess it didn't really matter. Man, I could barely think through this pain. Aren't I the luckiest guy in the world.

Syaoran was towering over me by this time, and I felt him grab the collar of my vest and yank me all the way up into a standing position, though he held me up high enough that my feet barely brushed the glass-littered floor. He was holding me up with one hand, his sword in the other. When I saw the position of the blade, I knew that my time was up.

"_No!_" Riku screamed, his voice still hazy. "_Sora!_"

I turned my head in the direction of his voice. I couldn't tell what his expression was, but I knew. I didn't need to see it to know. I wanted to say something lasting to him, but I was out of time to come up with anything.

So I settled for something simpler.

"'Bye, Riku," I whispered.

Not knowing if Riku heard me or not, I heard him shout my name one last time before the blade skewered my heart.

_Thank you…Syaoran…_

* * *

_Oh, remember what I said about not being able to gloss over this fight? Turns out I lied, apparently. And I wasn't kidding when I said that this chapter would be different. This chapter turned out ridiculously cheesy; sorry about that. ^^;_

_But by God, I am evil; I am _so_ evil; I'm gonna be forced to pay for this…ugh. X( I will be ready for the legions of your torches and pitchforks, swords and spears, whatever you decide to hurl my way. I'm totally ready; gimme your best shot._

_Don't lie; you knew that this was going to happen_ _at some point__. Judging from the reviews I've gotten so far, I can safely say that I was being pretty predictable in this story. So I wanted to surprise you in _some_ way, okay? Even if I had to resort to this…but I don't care; I still love it…in a really sick and twisted way. This story is still my special baby, and no one is _ever_ going to say otherwise! (Other than BJ. It's a pretty terrible story plot-wise but it'll always hold a special place in my heart. It's my first fanfic, after all! Plus it spawned the awesomeness incarnate that is Ryusei. Ensemble Darkhorse indeed.)_

_Gosh, this went by so fast, didn't it? Only one chapter left…these stories grow up so fast… *snivel*_

_Well, I hope you enjoyed and I appreciate that you don't hate me enough to stop reading this. (And you're actually at the end of this stupidly long author's note? Dang.) I'll also hope that you'll wait with bated breath for my final chapter! I shall see you then; bye now!_


	16. Goodbyes

_This is it, guys. The last chapter of That One Side Of You, packaged with a special epilogue! Sorry for the huge delay...if you've read my profile, you'd know what's up, plus I was working on other stuff. Anyway! Hope you've enjoyed the ride so far, since now we're about to hit the main attraction before coming to a stop! I'll say my goodbyes at the end; for now please enjoy reading this special extra-long finale!_

_Here we go!_

**Ch. 15: Goodbyes**

It took just one word for Syaoran to snap back into his senses.

"_NOOOOOOOOOO!_"

Syaoran gasped at the sound, taking air into his lungs so fast that he almost choked. He blinked several times in order to try and get a grip on his situation. He found that he was holding up Sora in a choke-hold in one hand. The other had his sword embedded nearly hilt-deep in the latter's sternum.

The scream had been Riku's.

Syaoran's entire body shook. He could barely hold himself together at the sight. He couldn't bear to look, but he couldn't tear his gaze away either. Sora's body was limp on the other end of the sword. His head was hanging loosely, so Syaoran couldn't see his face. Fresh blood splattered both his and Syaoran's clothing.

He couldn't take it. His muscles stopped working. His fingers lost their hold, and he let Sora fall to the glass-covered ground, his katana still lodged in his chest. His body lay there, crumpled and broken like a mangled rag doll.

Syaoran saw his face then, and he knew it was too late. Sora's eyes were blank and glassy. A small grin graced his lips, frozen in death. The longer he looked, the more the enormity of it struck him.

Sora was dead. Syaoran had killed him.

_I killed him..._

His mind was past the breaking point. He staggered back a couple steps and fell to his knees, staring at his blood-soaked hands in horror. He felt his entire body tremble from the shock.

_No, no, no, no...what have I done? What have I done…?!_

"No…" Riku whimpered, stumbling toward his friend's corpse. "No, no…you can't…Sora, you can't be…"

Whatever composure that Riku had had was gone now as well. He looked downright terrified, his eyes full of dread and denial. It was as if he was drowning and was watching the only lifeline that could save him sink into the abyss. Syaoran could barely watch.

"Sora," he called out again, louder and more frantically with each syllable, "Sora, no; please! You can't be dead, you can't!"

It broke Syaoran's heart to see Riku like this. So helpless, pathetic, desperate…so unlike the Riku that he'd first laid his eyes on at the start of all this. They hadn't known each other long, but Syaoran had seen right from the beginning that Riku was a rather serious individual who didn't let emotions get the best of him very often. Watching his best friend deteriorate into a psychopath, watching him kill the person whom he'd helped to matter, watching him being beaten to death by the one ally that he'd had in this confrontation…each time his fortifications had weakened, and the resulting agony now spared neither of them any mercy.

By now Riku had reached the body of his friend. He immediately crumpled to his knees once he was within reach and grabbed Hien's hilt, but didn't pull. He froze in that position for a moment, his eyes shadowed by his long silver bangs. He then raised his head and all Syaoran's eyes beheld was an emotionless mask.

"You bastard," he said at last, his voice deathly quiet. "You heartless, jerkish bastard."

Syaoran tensed. He wasn't completely sure who he was talking to, but then Riku lifted Sora's body into his arms and held it close. "You never let me follow you," he said through gritted teeth. "You took it all on yourself." Riku gently brushed Sora's bangs away and shut his friend's eyes as he spoke. "You're my friend…didn't you teach me that? That we didn't need to handle our problems on our own because we have friends? Why did you have to go back on your own words like that…you hypocrite…!" A single tear escaped his cyan eyes. "Why won't you let me follow you?"

"He wouldn't want that," Syaoran blurted out without meaning to in a trembling voice, causing Riku to flinch and look in his direction with a somewhat confused expression. Syaoran was surprised that there was no trace of resentment in that expression – only sorrow.

"What…what did you say?"

Syaoran took a deep breath. It was too late to take back his words now. "Sora wouldn't have wanted that," he repeated, his tone surprisingly even, even to him. "He wouldn't want you to follow. Not now."

"But I –" Riku broke off and looked down. His eyes were hard. "How would you know that? You didn't – you don't even know him."

Syaoran's throat was dry. "You're right; I don't," he admitted. "And I won't act like I do. But…I know that he's been through a lot…and I know how he felt…because a similar thing happened to me…" When? How long had it been since that accursed time? He didn't know, nor was he exactly eager to dwell on it to find out. "…a long while ago."

Riku didn't seem all that surprised, but the flash in his eyes showed that his interest had been piqued. "Did it really?" he asked flatly. "How does it compare to what happened to Sora?"

"It's not a matter of comparison," Syaoran said simply, his voice cracking. "It's a matter of understanding. Back then…I ended people's lives without remorse, because I only saw them as obstacles in the way of my ultimate goal. I couldn't see any other way…until I killed Sakura with my own hands." He balled his hands into tight fists. "She helped me see what I was doing wrong before she disappeared. The guilt I also felt when I was also eventually erased…it was hard to understand, then and now. But it wasn't to Sora's scale."

Riku narrowed his eyes in surprise. "What does _that_ mean?" he demanded, his feigned interest genuine now.

Syaoran hesitated. He wasn't sure he wanted to open up so much of his past to him. But…regardless of his wants or not, he felt obligated to tell him. It wouldn't make up for the fact that he'd ended Sora's life with his hand, but he owed Riku as much for doing so in the first place.

"When all that happened to me," he began slowly, "I didn't remember doing those deeds. The only reason I felt guilty then…it was because someone else had informed me of the fact, and I somehow inherently knew that I was responsible. But Sora…he remembered everything, every last thing that he did. You heard his words…he remembered killing his friends, torturing Tsubasa and countless other innocents…I can only imagine how he felt when he asked me to…" He couldn't bring himself to finish the thought, but he managed to get out, "…to do what I should have at the start. He must've been hurting so much. Because of what he was doing. He knew that making us do as he asked would hurt us…but he felt that he had no other choice in order to be forgiven."

Riku was silent.

"This won't do anything to make up for what happened," Syaoran went on, his voice cracking again a little harder this time. "But even if this was what he wanted…I'm…I'm so sorry. I – I don't expect you to –"

"It's okay."

Syaoran looked up in shock. "Wh-what?"

"You're right." Riku grinned slightly, albeit hollowly. "Sora wouldn't want me to follow him now. He wouldn't want to see me blubbering like a baby right now, either. I'm sure we'll see each other again down the line. And besides…" He looked at Syaoran, his eyes brimming with gratitude. "You were right in another sense. This was what he wanted…and you gave it to him, whether you meant to or not. So to you I say…"

Riku shifted Sora's body until Hien was parallel to the floor, and then slowly and carefully eased it out so that more blood wouldn't spill out. It was painful for Syaoran to watch, but Riku's expression remained unchanged throughout. It felt like ages, but the sword finally came out after another minute or so of easing. Riku held it up to eye level for a moment, observing it briefly before holding the sword up to him, hilt-first.

"Thank you," he said at last.

Syaoran didn't know what to say. He stared at Hien for countless minutes without taking it. The blade was covered in blood, both fresh and old – red on brown to black. Small bits of flesh clung to the cutting edge of the sword, small enough to pass over but pale enough to not be mistaken for blood. The hilt too was dotted with crimson stains.

Syaoran was sickened at the fact that Hien had drawn so much blood in both its and his lifetime, then and now. All those nameless and faceless people, those close to him like Tsubasa and Sakura, Syaoran himself, and so many of the enemies he'd had to face.

And today, it had added even more names to its ever-growing list of victims – Riku and ultimately Sora. Like the time he'd been at Fei Wong Reed's whim, neither had been intentional on his part, and both times it was because of Sora. None of the times that the sword had drawn blood had been of his free will – other than the time he'd stabbed himself in the foot. He had never harmed anyone unnecessarily while being aware of it.

He thought back to when he'd first acquired the sword, back in Otou Country when Syaoran had requested Kurogane to instruct him in the way of the sword to deal with the demons there – and by extension expand his combat comfort zone. The kindly man that had sold him the sword had told him that he felt that Hien was going to someone who would know how to take care of it and use it properly. The man probably hadn't been real since Otou had turned out to be a virtual world, but guilt still plagued him at the irony of that statement. So far, Hien couldn't have been in worse hands. It had been misused time and again, much too often. How could he be expected to carry this weapon now?

_As a reminder_, a voice in his head came then. _Carry it as a reminder of your life and your troubles, and especially a reminder of today. Carry it as a reminder so that nothing of this sort will ever happen again._

Of course, he couldn't guarantee that. But he would do whatever it took to avoid something like this happening in the future.

"Is something wrong?" Riku's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Syaoran shook his head to clear it.

"N-no. Sorry." Syaoran reached out and took the weapon in his right hand. The moment his fingers wrapped around the flame-adorned hilt, he heard a voice call his name.

"Syaoran?"

Syaoran's heart stopped for what seemed like an eternal second. He could hardly dare to believe it as he whirled around. Said heart nearly exploded when he saw that Tsubasa was awake, looking about his surroundings in confusion. His throat felt clogged with emotion; he couldn't say anything even if he wanted to. His relief was so overwhelming that he almost lost the feeling in his legs. Before that could happen, Syaoran ran as he'd never run before until he was kneeling in front of him and gripping his shoulders, to make sure he didn't pass out and leave him alone again.

Tsubasa still seemed bleary-eyed and groggy, as if he'd just woken from a nap. "There you are," he said with a weary smile, his voice dragging from his sleepiness. "I'm sorry…did I fall asleep on you again?"

Syaoran tried to say something, but a coherent sentence wouldn't come out. "I…I…"

"What is it?" he asked, concern creeping into his tone. "What's wrong?" Tsubasa chose that moment to rake his gaze up and down Syaoran's body, and he immediately grew more alert when he saw the blood. "Oh, no…you're hurt! Syaoran, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

_So this was what was going to happen…_

Syaoran knew that he couldn't keep this situation a secret from him. There was absolutely no humanly possible way to gloss this over.

"I – I'm fine," Syaoran finally managed to get out, his voice strangled. "But…"

"What?"

It killed Syaoran to say his next words, but Tsubasa deserved an answer. It took a couple tries but he finally managed to get them past his lips. He avoided looking back at Riku holding his best friend in his arms, leaned in close, and whispered the words into the ear of his flesh and blood before he fell against his chest and started weeping uncontrollably.

"I…I killed someone…"

* * *

Bringing in the mutilated cadaver of their supposed enemy into the palace hadn't really gone over well. The princess's brother, the king Touya, had gone absolutely ballistic at seeing Sora (dead or otherwise) in a complete stranger's arms. He'd heard about his deeds from Sakura as they were tending to their injured friends, apparently, and Touya obviously had not been pleased to see that perpetrator within his walls.

Syaoran did his best to calm him down.

"I know this looks bad, but we've got an explanation," he said. "Or rather, Riku can explain it to us, since the two of them were friends. He knows more about this situation than any of us."

It took a while, but he eventually managed to get the young king to agree, albeit very reluctantly.

"This had better be a good story," Touya grumbled, glaring at the silver-haired boy suspiciously.

Once both Syaoran and Riku had been treated for their injuries and Sora had been entrusted to the palace's nurses to be properly cleaned up, they all gathered in the healing chambers where both Fai and Kurogane were recuperating. They weren't allowed to move around, but they could still sit up and talk. Syaoran was relieved to see that his companions were alive and well, but their greetings would have to wait. Now they were listening as Riku began telling his story.

The story sounded so outlandish, in spite of all the crazy things that had happened to him that should have made Riku's story more believable. Even so – a talking duck wizard and a dog knight and that magical weapon they called the Keyblade? It couldn't have sounded any crazier to him if he'd tried. But through all this he paid rapt attention as Riku recounted all his adventures from the past – battling the darkness within him, rescuing Sora so many times from falling into that same darkness, and so on and so forth…up until the events of that evening. He skipped over many points in the story, likely because it was too personal to share, but Syaoran was so engrossed in the story he almost didn't notice.

It was almost impossible to believe that this entire fiasco had happened in just barely a days' time. It had seemed like an eternity to Syaoran, thanks to all the things that had happened piling on top of each other constantly, making it feel so drawn out.

Mostly, though, he was trying to drown out this part, as Riku was reaching the end of his tale. Syaoran didn't want to think about all the times that he'd lost control, hurting both Riku and Sora – ultimately killing the latter – without so much as blinking an eye. Guilt continuously pounded down on him as he listened.

His friends were good listeners. Other than the two princesses' faces that were as white as sheets, none of them showed any hint of animosity. Even Touya was beginning to look surprised. Syaoran couldn't properly judge Tsubasa's reaction, as he was standing behind him with his hand on his shoulder, but Syaoran could feel the tension in Tsubasa's grip increase with almost every word.

Once Riku had finished, the entire chamber was silent for a moment. The first to break that silence was Touya.

"So you're telling me," the young king began, disbelief clear in his tone, "that this Sora kid – the one who nearly killed both of the brats and beat the mage and ninja with an inch of their life left – did all that because all the dark feelings in him that were being piled up after all the crazy things that happened to you was being influenced by that sword. And the only way to stop it all was to get him to kick the bucket? And that kid _wanted_ to kick the bucket?"

"If you want to put it in a nutshell, then yes," Riku replied.

It was amazing how Riku had managed to regain and maintain his composure so soon after this incident. Perhaps he was used to it – from what Syaoran heard, Riku had been through quite a lot – but it still astounded him.

Touya turned and headed for the exit, grumbling something about needing air.

"How did that thing end up in your world in the first place?" the dark ninja grumped the minute the king had gone. "That sword should've stayed in Clow."

"I don't know any more than you," Riku admitted. "And I don't think Sora did either. What's the story behind that sword, anyway?"

Fai leaned in with a serious expression, his blue eyes for once free of any whimsy. "It's a long and gruesome one," the blonde mage began. "That weapon belonged to our archnemesis, a man called Fei Wong Reed, who possessed one goal – to destroy logic itself, in order to bring the dead back into the world of the living. Though in those dark times, the sword never had any magical properties. If it had, I would've sensed it."

"What the heck happened after that, then?" Riku asked, his voice tense. "How did it suddenly gain those magical properties that drove my best friend off the edge?"

"It's hard to say," Fai said, his eyes dark. "Perhaps it was the remaining vengeance that Fei Wong had exuded before disappearing. His magic was powerful, so it wouldn't surprise me if that turned out to be the case. Your friend – the one you call Sora – the negativity that he'd held inside for so long must've attracted the weapon to your world."

"But why ours? There are so many others out there that –"

"That might be true," the wizard interrupted, "but I'm talking about the scale of that negativity. You've both gone through hell; that much I can gather from your story. But how much has your friend suffered on your behalf? On all his friends' behalf? Did you ever stop to think about that?"

Riku looked appalled. "Of course I did!"

"Then I shouldn't need to answer your question; nor should you be asking it."

At those words, Riku flinched guiltily. He then lowered his head after a moment. "Sorry…you're right."

Syaoran was shocked. "Fai…" he began to protest, but he quailed underneath the magician's hard gaze.

"I'm sorry, Syaoran," Fai said, "but you of all people should know…holding back the truth never helps."

Reluctantly, Syaoran shut his mouth. Of course, Fai was right. Lying never made any situation turn out for the better in the end. Sugar-coating the situation at hand would have been uncalled for.

"Listen, if you're done moping," Kurogane cut in impatiently, "we've got another issue to deal with. What the hell are we gonna do with that sword now?"

Fai sighed, his lips twitching with the ghost of his usual smile. "Patience, Kurgy. It can all be dealt with later. We can't really do anything about it for the moment, anyway."

"What kind of answer is that?!"

"It's totally valid. Neither of us is in what you'd call an optimal condition, right? Being reckless isn't healthy, you know."

"If I weren't stuck in this bed right now I would've gone over there and knocked you on the head!"

"So…there's nothing we can do?" Syaoran spoke up then, if only to end their quarrel. "About the sword, I mean?"

Fai smiled as he turned away to look Syaoran in the eye. "I didn't say that."

Syaoran's heart leapt. "So it's – it's possible?" he asked urgently.

"As soon as enough of my strength returns," the magician assured him. "I'll be able to purge the sword of the dark magic. Not completely, but enough that this same incident won't happen again."

Relief like almost nothing before settled over Syaoran. "That's great," he said breathlessly. "Just…thank goodness for that."

Sakura came over to him and squeezed his hand gently. "Don't worry about a thing, Syaoran," she said reassuringly. "We'll take good care of both of them."

Syaoran smiled in response and squeezed hers in return. "I don't doubt it."

"You could use some fresh air," the young princess added. "Why don't you stand out on the balcony for a while? Tsubasa, too; he'll get his strength back quicker that way."

Syaoran nodded. "We'll do that."

At this point, Riku rose from his spot on the stool. "I'll come too."

"Oh, but – you shouldn't be moving so much with that broken bone," Sakura pointed out worriedly. "You sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine," Riku said. "I've had worse; believe me. And besides, there are still some things I need to talk to Syaoran about."

Syaoran was shocked at those words, but he did his best to keep his expression neutral. He had no idea what Riku meant, but he thought it best to go along with what he said.

"Don't worry, Sakura," Syaoran assured her. "We'll make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

Sakura hesitated briefly before saying, "Well…all right. Just be careful."

* * *

The sun hadn't set over the sand dunes yet, which was pretty surprising given the time all this had started. It had set halfway, bathing the desert landscape below in the same broad swath of scarlet as the evening sky.

Syaoran tore his gaze away from the sight and stared down at his feet. He couldn't look at the setting sun the same way anymore. The brilliant crimson reminded Syaoran of all the blood that had been spilled that day, and he didn't want to think about it. Especially since nearly half of the blood that had been shed had been _his_ doing. It seemed like cruel irony that all this had ended when the sun started setting.

"Syaoran," Riku cut into his thoughts then as he leaned over the side and stared out at the setting sun. "Haven't I told you that all that wasn't your fault?"

Syaoran was startled. Had his expression been that obvious? "Um –"

"Brooding over what happened isn't going to change anything for the better," Riku chided, a half-smile tracing his lips as he turned to face him. "You know, you're kind of insulting Sora's memory like this."

Syaoran blinked in confusion. "Er…I am?"

"Well, yeah. He really wasn't one who let anyone sweat anything. If he were here right now, he'd probably say something along the lines of, 'Don't worry about it! It's no big deal!'" Riku chuckled wistfully. "That's just the way Sora was. So cheer up and stop worrying. No sense in making him feel guilty in death, right?"

Looking at that smile made Syaoran feel guilty all over again. Riku must've been hurting a whole lot more than he was at the moment. In the span of three days he'd lost so many of his friends, and here Syaoran was the one moping when he hadn't lost anything. It was pretty inconsiderate on his part.

"Y-you're right," he said at last. "I'm sorry."

Tsubasa walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder, his amber eyes filled with concern. "I'm not too sure what's going on," he said quietly, "but you did what you had to do. Don't blame yourself."

"…Yeah. Okay."

"Oh, that reminds me." Riku moved away from the edge of the balcony to face Tsubasa. "We never had the chance to talk properly. I'd like to thank you, too."

Tsubasa stiffened in surprise. "Wh-what? Why thank me?"

"If it weren't for you, none of us would be here talking right now. You gave Syaoran the information we needed to get Sora back to his senses."

"Oh, that…" Tsubasa scratched his unkempt brown hair in embarrassment, clearly uncomfortable. "Well, I'm still not sure what happened, really, so I don't know if I should accept your thanks…even after you told the story, it still feels…so surreal. I mean, we get attacked by somebody who turned out to be your best friend, who cursed me and brought me so close to death, and…" Tsubasa shook his head in disbelief.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Riku said. "But still, just because you don 't remember it doesn't change the fact that it happened. So my gratitude is still there for you to take."

His original self still looked somewhat self-conscious, and Syaoran couldn't really blame him. Being thanked for something you don't remember doing could really confuse you.

"So, Riku," Syaoran prompted, causing the silverette to cast a glance in his direction. "What…what will you do now? It's all over now, so…will you be returning to your world?"

Riku turned away and shook his head with a sigh. "No, not yet. I have to stop by other worlds before I can go home. Because I need to…you know. Break the news."

Syaoran hung his head morosely. "I…I see."

"Yep," Riku said quietly as he stared out into the darkening sky. "It won't be easy. Sora…well, he had quite a few friends, spanning many worlds. It's going to be hard for them all to take in the fact that he's gone…" Here his voice cracked a little, though Riku didn't acknowledge it. "Heh…even I'm having a hard time, and I was there when it happened."

Syaoran was silent. It seemed to him that – from the way Riku had worded that statement – the words _quite a few_ were a huge understatement.

"He must've been a good person," he said after a while.

"Yeah, he was." Riku allowed himself an amused scoff. "Too good."

"Oh?" Syaoran was confused. "What do you mean; he was 'too good'?"

"Long story. Let's just say that…through everything and everyone he had to deal with, he didn't kill if he could avoid it. Usually."

"Usually?"

Riku continued to stare out into the night with an impassive look on his face. "That's another long story."

Syaoran didn't ask, but it was so strange to hear that Sora had abhorred killing, his mind too filled with after-images of his sadistic expressions and that cold, cutting voice of his echoing throughout. It was difficult to picture, but the longer he dwelled on it, the more easily he could understand how unnatural all that had seemed to appear. He had definitely not been a cold-hearted killer.

"Still," Riku continued, "he really was too nice for his own good. He even forgave _me_ after everything I did. He almost never held grudges. That's why it was shocking to me…"

All at once Syaoran understood. "So that's why when you saw him like that –"

"Yeah. I never thought revenge would ever cross his mind, even after all that hell. He forgave people so easily, even his enemies…and yet he'd never forgive himself of he did anything wrong. He'd try to hide it but…he's easy to read in that sense. Even apologizing made him feel more guilty." Here Riku paused and looked to Syaoran with a curious expression. "You two were a lot alike."

Syaoran didn't know _how_ to respond to that. Should he be feeling offended? Grateful? Embarrassed? He had no idea. All he knew was that he was _very_ confused.

_Was_ he like Sora? Was he really? How this comparison came about, it made no sense to him. He tried to make heads and tails out of it, but he failed miserably.

"I think that was a compliment," Tsubasa put in helpfully.

Syaoran still couldn't get a coherent sentence out. "Uh – well, that's –"

His expression must've been pretty good, because Riku actually laughed. "He's right, you know. Not very many people can compare to him. Take it from me, his best friend."

"Um…" Syaoran shook his head, trying to focus. "Yeah…right…"

Tsubasa clapped him on the back. "Just take it in stride," he advised. "Don't dwell on it too much. Okay?"

Syaoran managed a nervous chuckle at that. If only it were that easy for him…or maybe it was, but he was just making it harder on himself. Through this nervousness an idea began forming in his mind…it was crazy, but he had to at least try.

"Riku…I want to ask a favor," he said at last, turning to the tall teenager.

Riku blinked in curiosity. "What is it?"

"Let me go with you."

There was almost a tangible pause in the air when those words left Syaoran's lips. It must've sounded crazy on his part, but he wasn't going to back down. He wanted to do this, but only if Riku would let him. This was probably the only way he would stop feeling the way he was feeling now – guilty.

Riku looked nothing short of shocked – which was expected out of such a request. "Excuse me?" he asked, surprise clear in his tone.

"Let me go with you to these worlds," Syaoran repeated, doing his best to inject conviction in his voice. "I want to apologize too, to all of the people who were friends with Sora. I was the one who killed him, after all, and I want to tell them _something_. Maybe if I do that…I'll stop feeling so guilty when I shouldn't be."

The older teen knit his eyebrows together. "You sure you want to do that?" he asked cautiously. "Don't get me wrong; I don't have a problem with it, but…you're sure you have no second thoughts? When I said 'quite a few', I wasn't kidding. And not many of them will forgive you outright."

"I'm sure," he said firmly. "And I know the consequences, but I need to do this. I mean…isn't that what he would want?"

For a long while, neither of them said anything. The cold night air chilled his exposed skin, but he remained firm. Riku was studying him with a critical sort of expression, as if he was gauging what Syaoran had just said, but then he smiled.

"Well, how can I say no to a face like that?" Riku answered with a twinkle in his eye. "You're in."

* * *

_Well, that's that._

_And look, I didn't forget Kurogane or Fai! Before you call me out on that; I didn't forget! Remember, they weren't dead! If you were disappointed by the sheer lack of this golden pair, then here you go! It's small, but it's something!_

_Fun Fact: The first scene with Syaoran and Tsubasa was actually taken from an alternate ending __Bittersweet Journey__ had at one stage (if you've read it). It made sense to put it here, and I did want to pay homage to my first fanfic somehow, so…here you go. Hope you liked. :) You can use that scene to imagine BJ's what-if ending. _

_Thank you all so much for reading this story all the way to the end! To every reader, reviewer or not, I thank you with all my heart! This was an extremely fun story to work on, and I can't wait to get started for real on my other projects! Enjoy the epilogue, and I'll see you all again down the line!_

_Oh, and before I forget: Special thanks to __**Justice333**__, __**KHPkmnSpecial25**__, __**Bezerker21**__, and __**manilap**__! Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing this story!_


	17. Epilogue: The End

**Epilogue: The End**

He stared down at the sprawling scenery below him.

There was no doubting: life was hard. So many ups and downs, twists and turns – one could never truly predict the outcome of it. Too many points where you'd want to give up, since the low points always seem to outnumber the highs. It just doesn't feel like life would be worth it.

But then again, wasn't that the joy of living? Overcoming hardships, learning about life and yourself? That's why life is a privilege – you only get to live once, and you have to make the most of the chance you have. Life was _meant_ to be difficult. If it were easy, where would all the excitement be? The lows of life were there to make the highs even better.

Life is not out to get you. It's out to _make_ you. Teaching you how to live in its own way.

There will definitely be moments in your life that you'll regret for as long as you live, but those regrets, believe it or not, shape you too. What are life lessons for? You make mistakes to learn from them.

"Hey! How long are you going to just stand there?" a voice called, interrupting his reverie.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "You just _had_ to ruin my moment, didn't you?"

"What moment? If any moment is going to be ruined, it's gonna be hers! Get a move on!"

He clapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. "Oh, man. It completely slipped my mind."

"You should've at least been watching the clock, man."

"What clock? We don't have any clocks!" He covered his face and moaned, "Oh geez, she's seriously gonna kill me. _Again_."

"Don't know if an apology will get you out of that one."

He chuckled weakly. "Well, it's gotten pretty redundant, I've got to admit. I don't think that'll work this time, either."

"So you gonna skip out?"

"Ha! You kidding?" He sprinted away. "I'm ready for whatever she throws at me!"

Good.

Bad.

Which side of life are _you_ going to take?


End file.
